Sustainability Managers Should Use Economics in Their Favour

The existence of environmental economics as a compliment or alternative to neo-classical economics is hugely valuable to "green" or sustainability managers. The existence of these types of systems offers sustainability managers the opportunity to make the argument for social and environmental wellbeing in a manner that all individuals and groups understand - economics. Rather than arguing that social and environmental wellbeing are important for their own sake and our apparent reliance on them – which is often subject to argument and skepticism; sustainability mangers have the tools to make the economic argument for the services provided by society and the environment. Having the ability to apply a price to these systems helps to ensure that they are considered in decision making, even if just in some small way – as is currently the case. Environmental economics enables sustainability managers to come to the table with those focused solely on profit and loss and make the argument for sustainability in the language of these individuals and groups.