Sustainability: Organizational level

Sustainability frameworks work as guidelines for organizations for achieving sustainable development goals. There are several different frameworks with different goals and objectives. 

How to write a sustainability report?

ESG: Environmental, Social, and Governance Principles and Criteria (Investopedia)

CDSB: Reporting environmental and social information (Climate Disclosure Standards Board)

• SASB: The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board 
• Joint paper between SASB and CDSB

GRI Standards for reporting on a range of economic, environmental and social impacts. 

TCFD: Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures

SASB Standards & Other ESG Frameworks

EU Taxonomy is a classification system that demonstrates a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities. (European Comission)

CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility (Investopedia)

• Triple Bottom Line: profit, people, and the planet (Investopedia)

• CIRCitNorden
• CIRCULAR ECONOMY - An applied scholarly journal on circular economy (OPEN ACCESS)
• Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• Circular design / Ellen Mc Arthur Foundation
• Nordic Circular Economy Playbook / Nordic Circular Economy Playbook 2.0
• Six ways to build circular business models / Bocken & Ritala 2022
• Sustainability Playbook for Digital Commerce SMEs / Business Finland
• The Triple Bottom Line / John Elkington
• Quick Guide to Circular Economy Business Strategies

Articles:

• Anttonen, M., Lammi, M., Mykkänen, J., & Repo, P. 2018. Circular economy in the triple helix of innovation systems. Sustainability, 10(8), 2646. OPEN ACCESS.
• Barile, S. & al. 2020. Technology, Value Co-Creation and Innovation in Service Ecosystems: Toward Sustainable Co-Innovation Sustainability 2020, 12, 2759; doi:10.3390/su12072759. OPEN ACCESS.
• Klein, N., Ramos, T. B., & Deutz, P. 2020. Circular economy practices and strategies in public sector organizations: An integrative review. Sustainability, 12(10), 4181. OPEN ACCESS.
• Lahti, T., Wincent, J., & Parida, V. 2018. A definition and theoretical review of the circular economy, value creation, and sustainable business models: where are we now and where should research move in the future?. Sustainability, 10(8), 2799. OPEN ACCESS.
• Manninen, K., Koskela, S., Antikainen, R., Bocken, N., Dahlbo, H., & Aminoff, A. 2018. Do circular economy business models capture intended environmental value propositions?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 171, 413-422.
• Matalamäki, M. 2018. Growth trajectories of the established companies: effectuation and causation in focus.  Dissertation. OPEN ACCESS.
• Niero, M., & Rivera, X. C. S. 2018. The role of life cycle sustainability assessment in the implementation of circular economy principles in organizations. Procedia CIRP, 69, 793-798. OPEN ACCESS.
• Nikolaou, I.E., Jones, N. & Stefanakis, A. Circular Economy and Sustainability: the Past, the Present and the Future Directions. Circ.Econ.Sust. 1, 1–20 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-021-00030-3. OPEN ACCESS.
•  Ogrean, C. & Herciu, M. 2020. Business Models Addressing Sustainability Challenges-Towards a New Research Agenda. Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), 12(9), p. 3534. doi:10.3390/su12093534. OPEN ACCESS.
• Sarja, M., Onkila, T., & Mäkelä, M. 2021. A systematic literature review of the transition to the circular economy in business organizations: Obstacles, catalysts and ambivalences. Journal of Cleaner Production, 286, 125492.
• Schmitt, U. 2018. Supporting the sustainable growth of SMEs with content-and collaboration-based personal knowledge management systems. Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, 4(1), 1-21.  
• Schoormann, T., Stadtländer, M. & Knackstedt, R. 2022. Designing business model development tools for sustainability—a design science study. Electronic markets, 32(2), pp. 645-667. doi:10.1007/s12525-021-00466-3. OPEN ACCESS.
•  Uhrenholt, J. N., Kristensen, J. H., Rincón, M. C., Adamsen, S., Jensen, S. F. & Waehrens, B. V. 2022. Maturity Model as a Driver for Circular Economy Transformation. Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), 14(12), p. 7483. doi:10.3390/su14127483
• Vanhamäki, S. & al. 2019. Bio-based circular economy in European national and regional strategies International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 14(1):31-43 DOI:10.2495/SDP-V14-N1-31-43. OPEN ACCESS.
• Zaccone MC, Santhià C, Bosone M. 2022. How Hybrid Organizations Adopt Circular Economy Models to Foster Sustainable Development. Sustainability. 2022; 14(5):2679. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052679. OPEN ACCESS.

Articles:

• Ciasullo, M. V., Chiarini, A. & Palumbo, R. 2024. Mastering the interplay of organizational resilience and sustainability: Insights from a hybrid literature review. Business strategy and the environment, 33(2), pp. 1418-1446. doi:10.1002/bse.3530. OPEN ACCESS.
• Dentoni, D., Pinkse, J., & Lubberink, R. 2021. Linking Sustainable Business Models to Socio-Ecological Resilience Through Cross-Sector Partnerships: A Complex Adaptive Systems View. Business & Society, 60(5), 1216–1252. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650320935015. OPEN ACCESS.
• Florez-Jimenez, M. P., Lleo, A., Ruiz-Palomino, P. & Muñoz-Villamizar, A. F. 2025. Corporate sustainability, organizational resilience, and corporate purpose: A review of the academic traditions connecting them. Review of managerial science, 19(1), pp. 67-104. doi:10.1007/s11846-024-00735-3. OPEN ACCESS.
• Leoni, L. 2025. Integrating ESG and organisational resilience through system theory: The ESGOR matrix. Management decision, 63(2), pp. 401-422. doi:10.1108/MD-10-2023-1924. OPEN ACCESS.
• Marchese, D., Reynolds, E., Bates, M. E., Morgan, H., Clark, S. S., & Linkov, I. 2018. Resilience and sustainability: Similarities and differences in environmental management applications. Science of the total environment, 613, 1275-1283.
• Miceli, A., Hagen, B., Sotti, F. & Settembre-Blundo, D. 2021. Thriving, Not Just Surviving in Changing Times: How Sustainability, Agility and Digitalization Intertwine with Organizational Resilience. 2021. Sustainability, 13(4), pp. 2052. OPEN ACCESS.
• Ramezani, J., & Camarinha-Matos, L. M. 2020. Approaches for resilience and antifragility in collaborative business ecosystems. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 151, 119846.
• Zavala-Alcívar, A. & al.. 2020. "A Conceptual Framework to Manage Resilience and Increase Sustainability in the Supply Chain" Sustainability 12, no. 16: 6300. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166300. OPEN ACCESS.

Carbon Handprint Guide / VTT 

Climate Leadership Coalition CLC

the Climate Pledge

Fair trade

The Global Risks Report 2021 / World Economic Forum

Nordic Sustainable Construction

Principles for Purposeful Business by The British Academy

Responsible Business Alliance

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

Sustainable Brand Index™

UN Global Compact: the world's largest corporate sustainability iniative

World Trade Organization / The Doha Round

World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD

World Green Building Council - reports