Sustainability assurance is on the uprising. Nowadays, more and more companies are thinking about sustainability which resulted in a growing market for sustainability assurance. The global reporting initiative (2013, p.6) defines sustainability assurance as “the use of external, independent reviews of sustainability management processes and final disclosures is intended to increase the robustness, accuracy and trustworthiness of disclosed information.”. Unlike financial auditing, sustainability assurance ismostly unregulated and there are various guidelines and frameworks issued to help the assurance provider. The lack of mandatory regulations has resulted in a fragmented assurance environment where different approaches is used by different assurance providers. This in turn has contributed to the sustainability assurance process being unknown. The uncertainty around sustainability assurance affect the usersof the assurance report, for example stakeholders’, which can find it difficult to identify, interpretand compare the results of the sustainability assurance.The purpose of this study is to contribute to the limited knowledge on sustainability assurance, by investigating the sustainability assurance from both auditors’ and non-auditors’ perspectives.To assist in fulfilling the purpose, four main themes were developed; assurance team, assurance process, assurance report and the future of sustainability assurance. To fulfill the purpose of this study, the research questions are;“What is the audit process of sustainability reports?”“What does the sustainability assurance team look like?”“What does the sustainability assurance report look like?”The result in this study suggests that the process of sustainability assurance looks different depending on the assurance provider. The findings also suggest that the assurance team almost looks the same, regardless who is the assurance provider. When it comes to the results regarding the assurance report, it is evident that there are many ways to improve theusefulness and informativeness of the report. Furthermore, the findings of this study contribute to the limited knowledge of sustainability assurance by thoroughly exploring the assurance process.

Little is known about how sustainable entrepreneurs balance sustainability aspects with growth. The aim of this study is to investigate how growth and sustainability are balanced, and what role customers play in this balance. To answer this question we used a case study design and interviewed 8 executives representing 5 sustainable new ventures based in Sweden. The theory of the three pillars of sustainability was used to categorise and probe the data. Our research draws on two types of sustainability companies (sustainability-at-its-core and product-at-its-core) that balance sustainability and growth in a different way. Customers play an essential role in the balance, as they both impact growth and the sustainability level. Our research shows that within balancing growth and sustainability, sustainability can be seen as a company trait rather than a choice as sustainability is a part of the core of the new ventures’ business and will therefore always have an important position, even if growth is limited. It is recommended to explore the distinction in sustainable company type more in depth or other stakeholders’ influence towards new ventures in balancing growth and sustainability in the future.

A comprehensive study is presented of the Capacitated Multi DepotGreen Vehicle Routing Problem (CMDGVRP) applied to a heterogeneous fleet of electronic waste collecting vehicles with two objectives: to reduce the total fuel consumption of the vehicles (environmental sustainability) and to limit the continuous drive-time of the drivers (social sustainability). Research has been limited from this aspect, and in this study, the focus is on the practical application of pickup and delivery of electronic waste. The study also presents results for the online dynamic routing variant of this problem, where traffic congestion appears mid-route. A detailed analysis and parameter optimization has been done for Simulated Annealing, Genetic algorithm(GA), along with more advanced variants like Non-dominated Sorting GA (NSGA II), NSGA III, UNSGA III, and Indicator-Based Selection Evolutionary Algorithm (IBEA). Additionally, the Gini index is used to create a multi-objective model, which is novel in the context of CMDGVRP to the best of our knowledge. The use of the Gini index in the field of CMDGVRP shows excellent potential in balancing environmental, economic, and social sustainability. An extension of the CMDGVRP is introduced where vehicles can visit dropoff locations mid-route and then continue with a new route. This implementation is novel to our knowledge and is named Drop-and-continue. It is shown to increase the performance on large datasets. Results are presented from realistic simulation studies on a public dataset, with varying route lengths and vehicle fleet sizes, along with a real-world dataset from a waste collection company in Sweden. The results show that the optimal choice of algorithm depends on the dataset size and if there is a maximum budget of evaluations or computation time. Realistic problems are solved in a matter of a few seconds, given that they are initiated well. Simulated Annealing and Genetic algorithm prove to be very competitive in the case of large problems and limited computation time budget.

Alla behöver vara med och bidra till hållbar utveckling. Under senare tid har det blivit allt viktigare att arbeta kring hållbarhetsfrågor för att främja hållbar utveckling. I tidigare forskning har det framkommit att organisationer som använder intressentengagemang i hållbarhetsredovisningen kan utvinna fördelar. Något som dock inte tidigare har studerats är hur organisationer av typen ideella idrottsföreningar kan använda hållbarhetskommunikation som verktyg för att utvinna fördelar som resurser från intressenter och för att leda sitt hållbarhetsarbete framåt. Studien grundar sig i legitimitetsteorin och intressentteorin för intressenters tryck på föreningar och med en egenupparbetad analysmodell undersöks hållbarhetskommunikation som verktyg utifrån institutionella teorins begrepp decoupling och coupling. Syftet med studien är att få en förståelse för hur kommunikation av hållbarhetsarbete kan användas som verktyg i ideella idrottsföreningar. Studien bidrar till att förstå hur det annorlunda tryck ideella idrottsföreningar upplever på grund av sin mer legitima karaktär inverkar på vilket verktyg hållbarhetskommunikation blir. Studiens syfte har lett till frågeställningarna: Hur inverkar trycket från intressenter på ideella idrottsföreningar att använda hållbarhetskommunikation för att erhålla resurser? Hur används hållbarhetskommunikation som verktyg i ideella idrottsföreningar för att erhålla mer legitimitet och arbeta mer strukturerat med hållbarhet? Studien har genomförts genom fallstudie att studera en typ av ideella idrottsföreningar vilket har varit ridsportföreningar. Material har samlats in genom intervjuer med representanter från utvalda föreningar och studie av sociala medier som källa till att bekräfta informationen från intervjuerna som triangulering. Studien visar att ridsportföreningar i första hand inte använder hållbarhetskommunikation som ett verktyg för att erhålla resurser. Hållbarhetskommunikationen används snarare i föreningarna som ett verktyg som leder deras hållbarhetsarbete framåt. Studien visade även tydligt att det tryck som kommer från intressenter att arbeta med hållbarhet kom i princip enbart från de interna intressenterna. / Everyone is needed to contribute to sustainable development. It has been more important over the years to work with sustainability to promote sustainable development. Previous research explores organizations use of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting and its benefits. Organizations in the type of non-profit sports associations haven’t been researched before in its ways of using sustainability communication as a tool. A tool to gain recourses from stakeholders and in using it for development of the association’s sustainability work. This study is based on legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory for understanding in stakeholders demand on associations and with the analysis model is sustainability communication examined as a tool on the basis of the concept of decoupling and coupling in the institutional theory. The purpose of this study is to create an understanding in how communication of sustainability work is used as a tool in non-profit sports associations. The study contributes to understanding what the sustainability communication as a tool becomes in non-profit sports associations that experience a different demand from stakeholders than other types of organizations because of its already legitimate character. The purpose of this study resulted in the research questions: How does the pressure from stakeholders on non-profit sport associations affect the use of sustainability communication to earn resources? How is sustainability communication used as a tool in non-profit sport associations for obtaining legitimacy and leading sustainability work forward? The study implemented case study as a method of studying one type of non-profit sports association, where equestrian associations was selected. Data material was collected through semi-structured interviews and social media was examined to validate the information in a way of triangulation. The study shows equestrian associations main reason to use sustainability communication as a tool is not to gain recourses. It is rather used in the associations to lead sustainability work forward. The study also shows the pressure from stakeholders are internal than external in sustainability work for the equestrian associations.

The rise in popularity of the concept of sustainability has brought along many theoretical models and tools that promise to facilitate the sustainability transition of those who use them. One of those tools is the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, which several organisations have already used. However, what happens to this framework once it leaves its written format and is used by actual organisations? To help us answer this question, we have conducted semi-structured interviews with six organisations with the support of documentary research. All of which have used the framework. We then used thematic analysis to analyse the data. To interpret the results, we combined the perspectives of Scandinavian Institutionalism theory with a focus on translation and Change Management. The findings suggest that the motivation before selecting the framework plays a critical role in the way it is translated to practice. Early communication efforts may also influence the way the employees of an organisation perceive the framework and hence influence if they will resist its adoption. The framework does not maintain its integral theoretical form when organisations adopt it. Most of the organisations completely discarded one of its components. One organisation changed another almost beyond recognition. But at the same time, they recognise it as a uniquely good guiding tool. It also appears that among the components, the sustainability principles and the ABCD-procedure are almost always effectively translated and serve organisations’ sustainability objectives.

Sustainability is a term that is constantly gaining focus in our society and we are becoming more and more aware of the need to take the next generation into consideration when making decisions. The sustainable activity within the core business is growing and is also connected to profitability in ways that have not been seen before. However, the activities that are not included in the core business have not yet reached this long-term perspective. These non-core businesses within an organization goes under the term Facilities Management (FM). This paper focuses onReal Estate businesses, FM-suppliers and the relation between them.The purpose is to investigate current knowledge regarding outsourced FM-services and the real estate organisation’s use of these services. Furthermore, the purpose is to analyse what obstacles are currently restraining a sustainable way of working with FM-services and finally to present substantial suggestions for change. It is commonly agreed that acting in a sustainable way is a shared responsibility, and that acting accordingly will have great impact over the coming years. The Real Estate companies are facing an obstacle with lack of knowledge and awareness of the current situation. The FM-suppliers do not have the last say in the procurement process which prohibits them from using their knowledge effectively. Collaboration between the two parties is essential in order to achieve an improved result of sustainable development within FM. Five suggestions that will develop sustainability within FM have been depicted within this paper. The first suggestion is a plan of action with the foremost purpose of promoting sustainability and FM. Next follows a suggestion that shows the importance of early influence from proficient people. The third suggestion is to make sustainability measurable by creating a certification. Fourth, a law regarding sustainability reports can show how companies act in order to enhance the three dimensions of sustainability within their organization. The last suggestion is a template that will support both parties in the process of signing FM-contracts. In an ideal world, increasing the understanding and knowledge of sustainability and FM will prevent Real Estate businesses from buying services that are not sustainable as well as keeping FM-suppliers from delivering such services. / Hållbarhet får allt större fokus i vårt samhälle. Genom ett mer eftertänksamt beteende har ett agerande för en hållbar utveckling där nästa generation ges samma förutsättningar som denna påbörjats. Tankesättet växer sig starkare inom organisationens kärnverksamhet och i takt med detta ses hållbart agerande även i större grad som en del i organisationens ökade lönsamhet. Inom stödverksamheterna har utvecklingen dock inte nått detta långsiktiga perspektiv. Sammantaget utgör stödtjänsterna en stor del av en organisations totala omsättning varför det är av stor vikt att påbörja en hållbar utveckling inom dessa. En organisations samtliga stödtjänster sammanfattas i termen Facilities Management (FM). Detta arbete är inriktat mot FM-leverantörer och fastighetsbolag samt framställs med intresse för relationen dem emellan. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka befintlig kunskap om outsourcade Facilities Management-tjänster och fastighetsbolags nyttjande av tjänsterna. Vidare är syftet att analysera vilka hinder som idag motverkar ett hållbart arbetssätt inom dessa tjänster samt framställa konkreta förslag till förbättringsåtgärder. En litteraturstudie samt sju intervjuer har legat till grund för de resultat som framställs. Ansvaret för att agera hållbart inom FM anses ligga på var och en gemensamt och intervjuobjekten är eniga om att hållbarhet kommer att bli allt viktigare i dagens samhälle. Hinder hos fastighetsbolagen är bristande kunskap och medvetenhet gällande den ohållbara situation som råder idag. För FM-leverantörerna finns ett hinder i rådande partsrelation, där fastighetsbolagen har sista ordet vid upphandling trots att FM-leverantörerna besitter mest kunskap. Det krävs ett samarbete mellan parterna för att nå ett förbättrat resultat av hållbar utveckling inom FM-tjänsterna. Fem förslag för att utveckla hållbarhetsarbetet inom FM framställs. Det första är en handlingsplan med främsta syfte att marknadsföra hållbarhet och FM. Nästa förslag belyser vikten av att ge personer med kompetens inom området möjlighet att påverka i ett tidigt skede. I det tredje förslaget framställs en möjlighet att certifiera hållbart arbete för att göra hållbarhet mätbart. Vårt fjärde förslag är att införa en lag om hållbarhetsredovisning där organisationer tvingas redovisa hur de arbetat med de tre dimensionerna av hållbarhet under året. Slutligen föreslås en mall som kan vara till stöd vid tecknande av FM-kontrakt. I den bästa av världar kommer ett aktivt arbete med att öka förståelsen och kunskapen gällande hållbarhet inom FM att leda till att fastighetsbolagen aldrig köper ohållbara stödtjänster samtidigt som FM-leverantörerna heller aldrig levererar sådana.

Background: Sustainability reporting has become increasingly important for firms that want to appease their stakeholders and the society, whilst possibly increasing the corporate financial performance (CFP) of the firm. This is because sustainability disclosures currently work as the main channel for firms to inform their stakeholders of the CSR practices and environmental management carried out by the company. However, there have been various previous studies that examine the relation between corporate social performance (CSP) or the reported CSP, and CFP but not a study that would focus on GRI’s adherence level and its effect on Firm value (FV). The adherence level in the context of a GRI Report refers to the extent to which the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework and GRI Standards have been applied to a company’s sustainability report (Global Reporting Initiative, n.d.). This study intends to examine if stakeholders can be affected by a sustainability report’s adherence ranking made by GRI, although there necessarily would not be a clear connection to a company’s actual environmental performance.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out if the adherence level affects a firm’s value and how, although this classification of reports would not say anything about a company’s level of sustainability or a company’s sustainability performance. In short, the study wants to examine if stakeholders or the society surrounding a company are affected by the adherence level of a company’s GRI reporting and if this then can affect the value of the organization in any way. Aim: The aim of this research is to encourage organizations to become more transparent or elaborate regarding their sustainability practices if any significance between the adherence level and the FV can be found.  Method: This study was conducted by examining 98 European manufacturing firms’ GRI adherence levels for the years 2017 to 2019 and comparing them to respective Firm Values (Tobin’s Q) by the usage of panel data regression analysis.  Conclusion: The results show that no significant relationship between the GRI adherence level and FV can be found in the European manufacturing industry for the period 2017 to 2019.

Date: 2022-06-02    Level: Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr  Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University  Authors: Ida Pesiö Linnéa Rossander Title:  The Impact of Consumer Sustainability Values and Companies’                        Sustainability Work on Consumer Attitude and Purchasing The Importance of Product and Price Tutor: Aswo Safari Keywords: Consumer values, Consumer purchasing, Sustainability values,                    Online fashion sustainability, Companies’ sustainability work, Consumer attitude. Research question: How does consumers' sustainability values and companies'      sustainability work affect consumers' attitude and purchasing? Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how consumers’ sustainability values and companies' sustainability work affect their attitude and purchasing in online fashion. Furthermore, the study  aims  to identify what factors may lead consumers to unsustainable purchasing in an online fashion context.    Method: The study was conducted with an explanatory qualitative approach. The empirical data was obtained through semi-structured interviews, and followingly analyzed by combining the study's conceptual model together with a thematic analysis. Conclusion: The findings reveal that consumer values and companies’ sustainability work affects consumer attitude. However, consumer values and companies’ sustainability work do not affect consumers’ clothing purchases online. The most important factors that guide consumers purchasing are product and price. This does not mean that consumers do not care about sustainability during clothing purchases online, however, sustainability is not a priority.

Under de senaste åren har intresset för och arbetet med hållbar utveckling blivit en självklarhet i många organisationer. Trots den ansedda självklarheten finns det underliggande anledningar till varför organisationer väljer att arbeta på särskilda sätt. Anledningarna kan komma från bland annat interna åsikter, krav från politiker, viljan att vara bäst eller att tjäna pengar. Att välartade strategier för avfallshantering, som en del av hållbar utveckling, ska finnas på festivaler runt om i Sverige är en självklarhet för många besökare. Valen kring hur festivaler väljer att hantera avfall kan komma att påverkas av olika drivkrafter som alla spelar en roll i vilket beslut som tas. Studiens huvudfokus är att få en djupare förståelse för varför festivalarrangörer tillämpar särskilda strategier i relation till avfallshantering, och därmed förstå vad deras drivkrafter är. För att skapa förståelsen tillämpar studien ramverket Drivers to Sustainability som hänvisar till att det finns strategiska, interna och externa drivkrafter som ligger bakom organisationers val. Studien har tillämpat en kvalitativ metod för den empiriska datainsamlingen i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer, med ett fokus på festivalarrangörer som en del av urvalet. De nämnda drivkrafterna appliceras på vad studiens urval av organisationer diskuterar, om deras arbete med avfallshantering, under intervjuerna. Resultatet visar att interna drivkrafter är ledande i arbetet för avfallshantering, som en del av ekologisk hållbar utveckling, resultatet visar även på att nyckelbegreppet socialt ansvarstagande är den drivkraft som är ledande som svar på varför organisationerna väljer att avfallshantera eller arbeta med hållbar utveckling överlag. Det kom även fram i resultatet att ett flertal drivkrafter, som kan anses vara viktiga, inte framkom alls som anledningar till festivalarrangörernas val. / In recent years, the interest in and work with sustainable development has become a matter of course in many organizations. Despite the perceived obviousness, there are underlying reasons as to why organizations choose to work in specific ways. The reasons can come from, among other things, internal opinions, demands from politicians, the desire to be the best or to make money. That well-known strategies for waste management, as part of sustainable development, should exist at festivals around Sweden is a matter of course for many visitors. The choices regarding how festivals choose to handle their waste may be influenced by different driving forces, all of which play a role in which decision is made. The main focus of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of why festival producers apply certain strategies in relation to waste management, and thus understand what their driving forces are. To create this understanding, the study applies the framework Drivers to Sustainability, which refers to the fact that there are strategic, internal and external driving forces behind organizations' choices. The study has applied a qualitative method for the empirical data collection in the form of semi-structured interviews, with a focus on festival producers as part of the selection. The mentioned driving forces are applied to what the study's selection of organizations discuss about their work with waste management, during the interviews. The results show that internal driving forces are leaders in the work for waste management, as part of ecologically sustainable development. The results also show that the key concept social responsibility is the driving force that is leading in response to why organizations choose to manage waste or work with sustainable development in general. It also emerged from the results that a number of, what can be considered important, driving forces were not seen at all as reasons behind the festival producers' choices. The study will be presented in Swedish.

Businesses have historically had a negative impact on the environment by contributing to pollution, the increase of greenhouse emissions, neglection of responsible waste disposal, and deforestation among other things. Governments around the globe have been trying to align to goals and principles to decrease the negative impacts of humans, and it is now time for companies to step up and contribute to a more sustainable society. The research question for this study is “what can be the challenges when working with sustainability frameworks as an IT consultant firm?”. To answer this, research within Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), green ICT, and sustainable business have been conducted. In addition to this, the relation of two sustainability frameworks within IT consultant strategies have been assessed. Other than that, a case study have been carried out at an IT consultant firm. A result of this case study is a mapping of processes and their work with digital sustainability and sustainability frameworks. Two of the greatest challenges discussed in this study are about measuring and communicating the sustainability impact of projects. / Historiskt har företag haft en negativ påverkan på miljön genom att bland annat bidra till föroreningar, ökade växthusgasutsläpp, försummelse av ansvarsfull avfallshantering och avskogning. Regeringar runt om i världen har försökt att justera sina mål och principer för att minska människans negativa påverkan på klimatet, och det är nu hög tid för företag att börja bidra till ett mer hållbart samhälle. Forskningsfrågan för denna studie är “vilka utmaningar kan uppstå när en IT-konstulfirma arbetar med hållbarhetsramverk?. För att besvara denna fråga har forskning inom Informations- och kommunikationsteknik (IKT), grön IKT, hållbart företagande kombinerats och redovisats. Utöver detta har integrationen av två hållbarhetsramverk i en IT-konsultfirmas arbetsprocess undersökts. Studien har genomförts hos en IT-konsultfirma, och deras processer och arbete med digital hållbarhet och hållbarhetsramverk har kartlagts genom efterforskningar och intervjuer. De två största utmaningarna som diskuteras i denna studie är att mäta och kommunicera projekts hållbarhetseffekter.