Indicators of sustainable production

The main cause of environmental damage is unsustainable production and con­sumption, especially in industrialized countries. Achieving sustainable develop­ment will require changes in industrial processes, in the type and quantity of re­sources used, in the treatment of waste, in the control of emissions, and in the products produced. One of the difficulties in measuring the company’s level of sustainability is to determine which directions of change are leading towards sus­tainability. Hence, it is necessary to apply appropriate metrics that will enable these assessments. This paper presents indicators for assessing and promoting business sustainability — indicators of sustainable production. It first introduces the main concepts of such production and a set of necessary conditions that firms must fulfill in order to be sustainable. It identifies major functions of indicators and it proceeds to presenting the role of indicators.