By Naren Karunakaran, ET Bureau | 21 Jan,
2014, 02.00AM IST
As politicians fight shy of
longterm sustainability approaches and sway to the 'tweet of the day' and the
'poll of the week', the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a
global grouping of prominent CEOs, would like
businesses to step into the void, reorder their business models, and begin addressing some of our most pressing developmental challenges.
Businesses are aptly placed for they can take solutions to scale, with or without governmental support. Moreover, climate change and related challenges can be turned into business opportunities. "All it requires is a different mindset and the urge to foster transformational changes," says Peter Bakker, president and CEO, WBCSD. "Incremental changes cannot be a strategy for sustainability."
Tinkering with corporate philanthropy or CSR, therefore, as is happening in India, will not do. It is compliance-driven, and is not harnessed to the dire needs of the times. The 2% CSR spend mandated recently by the government hasn't impressed the international community; it is, at best, seen as a first step, but inadequate.
What is needed, as sustainability experts have maintained, is the integration of sustainability into everything businesses do; including it into every process or activity they engage in.
Bakker feels it's time for corporations to participate in deeper conversations as governments and politicians across the board are evidently losing the plot on sustainable development. "Why do governments subsidise and incentivise fossil fuels, and not renewable energy?" he asks.
About $40-50 billion is spent on renewable energy innovation while fossil fuel subsidies exceed $500-800 billion annually. Even the most promising of politicians, like US president Barack Obama, is incapable or unable to turn the tide. The WBCSD, a CEO-driven organisation of over 200 progressive companies, with Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever as chair, is therefore attempting to take the climate battle to the boardrooms of companies.
With a view to enthuse greater corporate involvement, the WBCSD lately engaged with over 800 scientists and experts, including those from the pioneering Stockholm Resilience Centre to identify critical areas of intervention and present businesses with an unimpeachable, science-based approach to development.
Marking Boundaries
2014, 02.00AM IST
As politicians fight shy of
longterm sustainability approaches and sway to the 'tweet of the day' and the
'poll of the week', the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a
global grouping of prominent CEOs, would like businesses to step into the void, reorder their business models, and begin addressing some of our most pressing developmental challenges.
Businesses are aptly placed for they can take solutions to scale, with or without governmental support. Moreover, climate change and related challenges can be turned into business opportunities. "All it requires is a different mindset and the urge to foster transformational changes," says Peter Bakker, president and CEO, WBCSD. "Incremental changes cannot be a strategy for sustainability."
Tinkering with corporate philanthropy or CSR, therefore, as is happening in India, will not do. It is compliance-driven, and is not harnessed to the dire needs of the times. The 2% CSR spend mandated recently by the government hasn't impressed the international community; it is, at best, seen as a first step, but inadequate.
What is needed, as sustainability experts have maintained, is the integration of sustainability into everything businesses do; including it into every process or activity they engage in.
Bakker feels it's time for corporations to participate in deeper conversations as governments and politicians across the board are evidently losing the plot on sustainable development. "Why do governments subsidise and incentivise fossil fuels, and not renewable energy?" he asks.
About $40-50 billion is spent on renewable energy innovation while fossil fuel subsidies exceed $500-800 billion annually. Even the most promising of politicians, like US president Barack Obama, is incapable or unable to turn the tide. The WBCSD, a CEO-driven organisation of over 200 progressive companies, with Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever as chair, is therefore attempting to take the climate battle to the boardrooms of companies.
With a view to enthuse greater corporate involvement, the WBCSD lately engaged with over 800 scientists and experts, including those from the pioneering Stockholm Resilience Centre to identify critical areas of intervention and present businesses with an unimpeachable, science-based approach to development.
Marking Boundaries
The fact that Polman is at the high table, crafting the UN sustainable
development goals (SDGs) for beyond 2015, the target date for the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) has helped the corporate world absorb and respond to the
burning developmental issues on debate. Under the tutelage of Polman and
Bakker, the Council is now advocating Action 2020, with a deep, well-considered
developmental focus, unlike the codesand principles-driven corporate
initiatives that abound.
The WBCSD plan borrows from the concept of 'planetary boundaries' postulated by the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Planetary boundaries define a science based 'safe operating space' for a world faced with growing developments needs and rising environment risks.
A diverse group of scientists have identified nine boundaries of processes (See chart) that determine the earth's capacity for self-regulation. Breaching these planetary boundaries can be catastrophic for humanity. The world has already crossed three of the thresholds: climate change, biological diversity and nitrogen input to the biosphere.
The WBCSD plan borrows from the concept of 'planetary boundaries' postulated by the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Planetary boundaries define a science based 'safe operating space' for a world faced with growing developments needs and rising environment risks.
A diverse group of scientists have identified nine boundaries of processes (See chart) that determine the earth's capacity for self-regulation. Breaching these planetary boundaries can be catastrophic for humanity. The world has already crossed three of the thresholds: climate change, biological diversity and nitrogen input to the biosphere.
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