Title : An overview of Australia's sustainability opportunities and challenges
Abstract:
In the 21st century, 5.45 billion people are using information and communications technology (ICT), which has become a significant instrument for searching, conducting research, communication, entertainment, commerce, and information. Today, the world population exceeds 8.2 billion, and by 2050, it will be more than 9.7 billion. This increase will influence the availability of housing, food, transportation, waste, economic and social issues, employment, the environment, and unsustainable development activities. Therefore, we need to tackle this problem by adopting and implementing sustainability principles by individuals and businesses. There are positive and negative aspects to the adoption and implementation of sustainability by individuals and businesses. However, if the implementation of sustainability is properly planned and executed, users will obtain desired benefits such as brand and reputation enhancement, shareholder satisfaction, human resource efficiency, natural resources conservation, and environmental protection. However, the adoption and implementation of sustainability can have negative consequences in terms of failure, risk and cost. Therefore, to reduce the possibility of these occurring, awareness and training should be made available to individuals and businesses. An online survey was conducted in Australia to examine students' perspectives and awareness toward sustainability. Based on the online survey feedback from 208 Australian respondents, three positive and two negative aspects associated with students' knowledge and understanding of sustainability were identified. Finally, further research will be conducted in the future to examine more diverse groups of stakeholders in order to strengthen the research findings.
