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What sustainability issues impact a specific industry?

Industry Associations

Industry associations may provide information about sustainability issues within an industry.

An industry association represents industry members, and some industry association websites include materials about the industry and sustainability issues it faces. These materials can often be found by browsing or searching the industry association website. Note that some information on industry association websites is for members only, and Seneca Libraries does not subscribe or provide access. 

Industry associations may exist at the national level (for example, Cosmetic Alliance Canada) or provincially (for example, the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association).

The Environment and Climate Change Canada website includes a list of national industry associations:

Trade Publications

Trade journals publish articles aimed at people working in a particular field, to help them stay up to date on current topics within the field. Some of these articles may relate to sustainability, including sustainability issues facing the industry, and how companies in the industry are addressing sustainability.

To find trade publication articles on sustainability in an industry, search for keywords related to the industry, as well as keywords related to the sustainability topic. Then, look for options to sort the results by relevance and filter the results to trade publications. Examples of keywords:

  • hospitality sustainability
  • restaurants food waste
  • gender equality tech
  • "fast fashion" environment

Search Tips

  • Type each search criteria into a separate search box.
  • The asterisk (*) will match zero or more characters at the end of a word. Use this to search for words with different endings. For example: tech* will find results for tech, technology, technological, technician, etc.
  • Include synonyms or related terms using the OR operator. Type OR between words to find results containing either term.
  • To search for an exact phrase, surround the phrase with quotation marks: "exact phrase"

Business source premier search interface displaying search criteria: "fast fashion" AND (environment OR sustainab*)

  • Look for a source type filter for 'Trade Publications', and consider also filtering by other criteria, like date range.
  • Sort the results by Relevance to bring results that are more related to the search terms to the top of the list.

Watch this video on finding articles from trade publications:

Give it a try!

  1. Sign in to Business Source Premier or ABI/INFORM, using the links below.

  2. In one search box, type the name of an industry you're interested in. In the second search box, type a keyword related to sustainability. Click Search.

  3. Refine your results using the following criteria:

  • Sort the results by relevance

  • Limit to Trade Publications

  • Customize the date range

  1. Explore the results. See if you can find an article related to sustainability in the industry.

Key Databases for Trade Publications

What data is available on Canada’s environmental sustainability?

For information on the environmental issues facing Canada, check out the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program webpage.

Learn about environmental indicators on air, climate, water, nature, and human influence. Start by selecting an indicator, and then explore the available information.

For some indicators, information is available for specific sectors, such as oil & gas, transport, agriculture, and electricity.

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