The 3 Pillars of Sustainability: A Strategic Foundation for Business Success

Pravin Bhardwaj | Expert's Blog, Blog, Corporate Training | July 9, 2025

Table of Contents

The 3 pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and economic. When we talk about sustainability, we’re talking about a development model that can meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. Sustainability is more than an environmental concern—it’s a strategic business imperative.

At its core, it represents a model of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. It’s a holistic approach that considers the social, environmental, and economic impacts of actions and decisions taken today.

Key Takeaways

Understand the 3 pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and economic.
Learn about why all three pillars are essential for long-term business success.
Discover how sustainable practices boost brand image and gain stakeholder trust.
Explore real-world examples and develop strategies for aligning sustainability in your organisation.
Discover how AITD’s training helps businesses to become sustainability leaders.

Historical Context of Sustainability

From a historical perspective, the concept of sustainability was formulated at the first United Nations Conference on the Environment in 1972, but it has only really taken shape since 1987, when the publication of the so-called Brundtland Report (“Our Common Future”) clarified the goals of sustainable development.

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

This definition set the foundation for integrating sustainability into global policy and corporate governance.

The 3 Pillars of Sustainability: A Strategic Choice for Business

The Three Pillars of Sustainability—Environment, Social, and Economic—serve not merely as ethical principles but as strategic levers for securing long-term commercial success. These pillars cannot be viewed as independent silos; they form three dimensions that provide a framework for responsible decision-making in industries and sectors.

The environmental pillar allows businesses to maintain the integrity of ecosystems, to reduce their carbon footprint, and to conserve the environment.
The Social Pillar aims at human rights, workplace equity, education, health, and community well-being.
The Economic Pillar supports and sustains economic systems that ensure long-term profit alongside equitable growth.

The incorporation of the three sustainability pillars into a business strategy is now a must-have instead of a nice-to-have. Organisations that use all three for sustainability are favoured with:

Build brand trust and stakeholder relationships.
Better risk mitigation and regulatory preparedness.
Increased investor confidence through transparent ESG reporting.
More innovation in sustainable design of products and processes.
Cost savings on operations and profitability over the long term.

At the international level, frameworks exist such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ESG standards, and policies such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), among others. These ensure the laying down of an organised framework for the execution and enforcement of responsibility by companies.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme

Did You Know?
Over 90% of global GDP is now covered by net-zero pledges. This shows a huge change in how we view the environment and economy. Governments and companies are now focusing on reducing carbon emissions.

What Is Environmental Sustainability?

Environmental sustainability terms as responsible management of natural resources to maintain the ecological balance over the long term. In other words, it stands for the multi-dimensional concept of satisfying the present environmental needs so that such needs do not exhaust an already diminished capacity of the planet for future generations.

Factors influencing environmental sustainability

Environmental sustainability is influenced by several factors that can have a significant impact on the ecological balance and the planet’s ability to sustain life.

Some of the main ones include:

Climate change, caused by the excessive amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere due to human activities;
Air, Water, and Soil Pollution;
The loss of biodiversity;
Overexploitation of natural resources;
Economic models that involve unsustainable consumption.

Goals to Achieve Environmental Sustainability

To achieve environmental sustainability, a number of key goals must be achieved, including:

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in crucial sectors such as power generation, industry, agriculture, and transportation.
Increasing the production and use of energy from renewable sources.
Implementing policies to conserve biodiversity by addressing its causes.
Adopting sustainable practices in agriculture and the food chain, such as precision agriculture strategies, optimising and increasing soil quality and productivity through a series of targeted interventions using technology, regenerative agriculture and agrivoltaics, and reducing food waste.
Raising awareness and engaging communities on the issue of environmental sustainability.
Promoting the circular economy.

Several companies, including Patagonia and IKEA, among others, have successfully entered into putting up a circular economy model, which revolves around using, with the intention of reusing, the materials and designing out wasteful aspects.

What Is Social Sustainability?

Social sustainability involves a focus on people and society, safeguarding human rights, social justice, equity, and well-being. In other words, it strives for an inclusive, safe, and equitable society in which every person has access to basic rights, health care, education, and a living.

Challenges to Social Sustainability

To achieve sustainability, it is necessary to overcome:

Poverty and socioeconomic inequality.
Discrimination, prejudice, and social exclusion.
Lack of access to resources.
Insecurity and conflict, locally, regionally, and globally.
Poor governance, which includes phenomena such as corruption and institutional inefficiency.

In the path to social sustainability, the promotion of systems and policies that can reduce social and economic inequalities plays a particularly important role in ensuring equitable access to opportunities and resources for all members of society.

Goals for Social Sustainability

In addition to the fight against inequality, the goals to be achieved in terms of social sustainability include:

The promotion of policies to respect basic human rights, such as the right to health and education.
The adoption of practices that value and include people of diverse backgrounds, gender, ethnicity, ability, and sexual orientation.
The creation of safer living environments with more efficient administration of justice.
The improvement of people’s health and mental and physical well-being through quality health services.

Remote work, gender equity programs, and inclusive hiring are now mainstream practices for socially responsible organisations like Unilever and Salesforce.

What Is Economic Sustainability?

Economic sustainability means balancing growth, equity, and resource efficiency for ensuring long-term financial stability without harming society or the environment. It supports a system where economic development equally benefits people and the planet’s well-being, ensuring resilience and inclusivity.

Factors Influencing Economic Sustainability

Factors influencing economic sustainability include:

The responsible management of resources.
The capacity for efficiency and innovation of economic systems and enterprises.
Financial stability at the macro level.
States’ level of social innovation, that is, each country’s commitment to promoting policies, programmes, and initiatives that address crucial social issues such as poverty, gender equality, access to education and health care, environmental sustainability, and other social issues.
International cooperation and partnerships between public administration and private enterprises.
The level of equity and social inclusion.
Corporate responsibility.

How to Build an Economically Sustainable Model?

To make an economic system sustainable, it is necessary to encourage energy generation from renewable sources, to adopt policies and regulations that encourage energy efficiency, and to promote economic models based on the circular economy, which, as such, are able to reduce waste and contain resource exploitation.

Achieving these goals requires fostering social and economic inclusion, technological innovation through dedicated investments, promotion of efficient and transparent governance, as well as public awareness and education.

Responsible management of economic resources is of paramount importance because it implies and ensures:

The minimisation of environmental impact;
Social and economic equity;
A more resilient and challenge-capable economy;
A more widespread adherence of companies to management based on principles of responsibility and ethics.

Companies like Enel have issued green bonds tied to ESG outcomes, setting industry standards for sustainable finance.

Is There a Fourth Pillar—Ethics?

Increasingly, sustainability thought leaders and organisations like UNESCO advocate a fourth pillar of culture for long-term development.

Culture works on how societies define and pursue sustainability. Culture is a driver of identity, social values, heritage, creativity, and innovation. Sustainability efforts without cultural relevance tend to lack wider acceptance and long-term sustainability.

“Culture is thus a driver of social values (cohesion, solidarity, fundamental freedom), contributes to global economic sustainability, and is as important as the environment to humankind because of the heritage it represents.” — UNESCO

Source: Bloomberg Intelligence

Did You Know?
$53 trillion in ESG assets are expected by 2025—one-third of total global assets under management. This growth shows how sustainability is changing investment strategies globally.

The Interconnected Nature of the 3 Pillars

The pillars of sustainability are closely interconnected, in that every action taken within each of the spheres has spillover effects on the others. There is a strong interconnection between the environmental and economic spheres, where good environmental practices, such as responsible resource management, are essential to maintaining the stability of the economy and the very existence of the food supply chain.

Not only that: some sustainability strategies, such as transitioning to a low-carbon economy and adopting sustainable practices, can create economic opportunities, promote innovation, and increase the competitiveness of businesses.

The social sphere is also connected to both the environmental and economic spheres. It is well established that in an equitable and inclusive society, where inequalities are reduced, social cohesion, active citizen participation, and the basis for a sustainable and resilient economy are fostered—just as it is evident that people’s health and well-being are closely linked to the quality of the environment in which they live.

What Do The 3 Pillars Of Sustainability Mean For Your Company’s Future Success?

Learn More

What Does the ESG Integration Strategy Involve?

Usually, ESG integration is referred to as the strategic evaluation of non-financial factors in company decision-making and investment attraction; non-financial obstacles may include emissions, human rights, governance structures, etc.

It includes:

Transparent ESG reporting.
Environmental and social risk assessment criteria.
Ethical leadership and board accountability.
Use of sustainability-linked financial products, such as green bonds.

As an instance of raising funds aligned with sustainability goals, Enel funnelled the first ESG-linked bond in 2019.

The SDGs and the UN’s 2030 Agenda

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) state the 17 main global targets set by the UN in the year 2015 under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

These goals provide a set framework within which to structure basic business strategies in the context of wider national ones over the three dimensions of:

First, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its protocols, which entail commitments to minimise greenhouse gas emissions.
Secondly, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which relates to the conservation of biodiversity, and most importantly, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which encompass a much wider sustainability spectrum.
Built around these goals is the UN 2030 Agenda, which includes 17 goals, valid for everyone around the world, articulated along the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental.

Embedding SDGs into business operations allows organisations to foster global advancement while increasing their competitive advantage.

AITD: Empowering Businesses with Sustainability Leadership

At Amity Institute of Training and Development (AITD), we offer bespoke training for solution businesses to integrate sustainability through very well-thought-out impact-driven learning. Our training covers:

Corporate leaders aligning companies towards ESG.
People managers nurturing team engagement on sustainability.
CSR and compliance professionals addressing SDGs and regulatory frameworks.

The right mindset—the right training—begins from sustainability. Let AITD lead your team for the change.

Is Your Company Balancing Profit, People, And The Planet Effectively?

Get Started Today

Latest Blog

7 Techniques for Mastering the Art of Asking Questions in Meetings