The concept of the environment has become very complex due to its close and innovative association with the economic, social and technical fields, and it departed from its simple concept that was known and understood by the first man, and it cannot be viewed in any way in isolation from the modern practices and influences produced by contemporary civilization, but rather it should be seen as a concept characterized by Inclusiveness that does not accept division.
Society in our present time faces many huge environmental challenges that the whole world is calling for cooperation in solving such as the depletion of natural resources, pollution, climate change, destruction of natural environments, the extinction of many animal species that have led to the threat of human security, the impact on the health and well-being of human societies, and the neutralization of the principle of sustainable development. .
Social responsibility is to contribute to sustainable development by supporting economic growth and achieving social progress, as well as contributing to environmental protection through countries and organizations of all sizes, orientations and locations playing their role in protecting the environment, as facilities have clear negative effects on the environment, whether due to their use of natural resources or Because of the generation of pollution and waste or because of the effects resulting from its activities of products or services in the natural environment and therefore it entails more responsibilities towards preventing and reducing those effects by adopting an integrated approach in this regard. Therefore, the standard specification for social responsibility ISO 26000, which was prepared by the International Organization for Standardization, introduced a special item on the issue of the environment as one of the main topics of social responsibility, which is the sixth item, and showed through it the four main environmental issues, and the main tasks that establishments should adopt and implement, I summarize them for the honorable reader as follows :
First: Preventing pollution, which is the most important and clearest of its effects on the environment. Therefore, facilities can develop their environmental performance by preventing pollution in all its forms, which includes the following:
Preventing and reducing emissions of harmful gases into the air, such as lead, mercury, volatile organic components, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and substances that deplete the ozone layer. These emissions may arise directly through the facility’s buildings or indirectly through the use of the facility’s products and services or through the electricity it consumes.
– Avoid throwing waste and waste that the establishment’s activities and services cause, whether they are liquid or solid, and follow means to reduce them by reducing the source, reusing, recycling, or treating and disposing of them.
Refrain from using toxic chemicals.
This follows the prevention of other pollution manifestations that may be caused by the establishment, its activities, and its products, which negatively affect the health and well-being of communities, including noise, olfactory pollution, visual pollution, wave and radioactive pollution, viral and bacterial polluting agents, non-source emissions, and biological damage.
Second: sustainable use of resources
To ensure that resources are available in the future, the current forms of consumption and production need to change in order to achieve sustainable use of resources, so the establishments should follow the methodology of sustainability in resources by rationalizing the use of electricity, fuel or raw materials and water in a more responsible way, and there are three main areas for development The actors in this field are as follows:
* Energy Efficiency and Efficiency: The facility can implement energy-efficient programs to reduce the energy required for buildings, transportation, production processes, equipment, electronic applications, and service provision.
* Preserving water: the facility can conserve water and take decisions that protect fair and sustainable access to fresh water sources, including the provision of safe and reliable drinking water and disinfection services, as this is one of the basic needs of people and one of their main rights.
* Material efficiency: The facility can apply material efficiency programs to reduce the environmental burden, by using environmentally efficient raw materials for production processes or for completed products used in its activities or in delivering its services.
Third: mitigating climate change
It is known that emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are among the main causes of global climate change, which have fundamental effects on the natural and human environment. Among the observed and expected trends: rising temperatures, changes in precipitation amounts, more frequent occurrence of extreme weather events, rising sea levels, as well as changes in environmental systems. It is expected that climate change may reach a level where these changes are violent and difficult to confront. Given that all facilities are affected in one way or another by climate change, they must bear responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, whether directly or indirectly. Each facility has implicit roles in terms of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by mitigating them, in addition to planning for climate change, which is called adaptation, which has social implicit forms such as improvement in public health and contributing to human prosperity and obtaining his rights.
Fourth: Protecting and restoring the natural environment
During the past 50 years, human activity has caused a clear, rapid and intense change in environmental systems, compared to any similar period in history, as the increasing demand for natural resources resulted in a fundamental and irreversible loss of biodiversity on Earth. Therefore, socially responsible establishments protect and restore the natural environment and its ecosystems, while providing services such as food, water, etc. The main salient features of this case are as follows:
* Pursuing, protecting and restoring ecosystems.
Protecting Diversity a
Vital to ensuring the survival of terrestrial and aquatic species, genetic diversity and natural ecosystems.
Use of land and natural resources in a sustainable manner.
* Advancing urban and rural development and this can be related to urban planning, building and construction, transportation systems, sanitation management or applied agricultural techniques.
There is no doubt, dear reader, that man is behind all these dangerous environmental hazards, and God – Glory be to Him – told this in Surat Al-Rum: “Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what people’s hands have earned.” These risks can only be removed or reduced by the establishment of all states. organizations and individuals to respect, promote and disseminate the following environmental principles: environmental responsibility, follow the preventive methodology of environmental challenges, and manage environmental risks, and thus man fulfills part of God Almighty’s commandment to humanity in His saying: “And do not cause corruption on earth after it has been reformed.”
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