How an Ergonomic Approach Supports Sustainability and ESG Goals: From Green Ergonomics to Sustainability Through Ergonomic Excellence

The article aims to determine how ergonomic measures support the achievement of ESG goals and how ergonomics as a discipline can be used in sustainability reporting. The study was designed as a mixed-method approach, started with a systematic review of the literature conducted according to the PRISMA protocol, and was followed by a qualitative analysis of the identified literature. The search strategy was based on a combination of keywords in the areas of ergonomics and environmental management. The results of the review identify the main trends in combination of ergonomics with ESG: Ergoecology, Green ergonomics, Environmental ergonomics, and Immaterial ergonomics, as well as indicating areas of objectives particularly reinforced by ergonomic interventions and documenting examples of good practices valuable for ESG reporting. The main results of the study are as follows: (1) organizing research trends in ergonomics for sustainable development; (2) a systematizing approach to green ergonomic practice; (3) a set of ergonomic practices for sustainability that are most frequently described in the literature; and (4) a conceptual model termed the Sustainability through Ergonomic Excellence Model (StEEM). The proposed framework organizes a range of practices into seven areas of excellence and assigns the collected green ergonomic practices to them, showing their contribution to implementing ESG metrics. The research carried out indicates that the role of ergonomics is still underestimated in current reporting standards. The proposed mapping and StEEM frameworks provide a framework to facilitate the systematic integration of ergonomics into ESG strategies and reporting and to provide a structured foundation for future empirical and evaluative research.