Explanation:
Businesses affect the environment through the extraction and utilisation of environmental resources, and through pollution that is released through these processes.
Businesses are embedded systems that utilise environmental resources to create value by delivering a product or service to its customers in exchange for money.
This requires a supply chain, which is comprised of other businesses that do the same, and customers that are comprised either of other businesses or people that also utilise environmental resources, and partner businesses that facilitate the first businesses utilisation of environmental resources. All of these business actors and stakeholders both utilise environmental resources, that have had to be extracted, and produce pollution that further affects the environment.
Though businesses can either implement processes that reduce these environmental effects, or have positive environmental effects.
Businesses positive environmental effects can be seen as the reverse, they can create environmental resources and reduce pollution. However, the processes that create these positive effects will themselves have negative effects, going back to the first paragraph.
How all of these processes affect the environment can be broken down and studied, looking at
Environmental resource extraction methods
How waste is managed and utilised
Pollution created through the utilisation of environmental resources
business operations
logistics
manufacturing
etc
Product/service design
How this impacts product/service creation
How this impacts product/service use
How this impacts customer behaviour
