Sustainable Social Management: The Case of Co-operatives

Abstract

Co-operative societies are significant in Andalusia, given the fact that the regional Social Economy leads the national outlook. Scientific literature generally supports their socioeconomic impact and business social responsibility, which are studied, as a whole rather than in detail, with regards to environmental aspects. Despite the global situation regarding the need to enhance energy efficiency, the manner in which these co-operatives take it into account is not clearly shown. Consequently, this research provides a series of effective measures for CO2 emission mitigation and energy efficiency improvement. Thus, the aim was to understand the sustainable responsibility of co-operatives by means of CO2 emission evaluation and their sources. Additionally, this research enquires into the available supporting economic incentives that are proposed and describes effective mitigation measures supported by the regulations regarding prevention and environmental quality. A participatory analysis of the selected co-operatives was also performed with a view to defining economic-environmental indicators and to provoking a gradual improvement of sustainability concerning their performance. The outcomes of this research reveal the scarce concern of companies with regards to the energy consumption and the economic and environmental impact. In conclusion, co-operatives need to optimise the social management from defined environmental practice in order to modify their behaviour. Their strategic direction has to encompass climate change risks and opportunities in their analysis and control systems. In this sense, this clearly specific commitment of co-operatives establishes a rising tendency to guarantee a stable productive model with minor atmospheric pollution.