Ten years on from the Rio Earth Summit, world leaders will gather
again in Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in September. As planetary anxieties about
globalization, poverty and climate change grow, where does the
international business community stand? Are they a barrier to
change or an engine for it? One outcome of Rio was Changing Course,
the hugely influential book by Swiss industrialist Stephan
Schmidheiny, which argued that business needed to be part of the
solution to global environmental degradation. Now, Schmidheiny has
joined with fellow prime movers in the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD - the key business organization
focusing on policy research and development in this crucial area),
Chad Holliday, Chairman and CEO of DuPont; and Philip Watts,
Chairman of Shell; to spell out the real business case for
addressing sustainable development as a key strategic issue. The
results are ground-breaking. For the first time, leading
industrialists are arguing that not only is sustainable development
good for business, the solving of environmental and social problems
is essential for future growth. Drawing on a wealth of case studies
and personal interviews from business leaders operating around the
world, Walking the Talk clearly demonstrates that the vanguard who
have operationalized leading-edge environmental and social
initiatives are benefiting in a myriad of ways that benefit the
bottom line - and the planet. The book argues that the time for
rhetoric is over. The business of business has changed. Even more
remarkably, the authors insist that a global partnership - between
governments, business and civil society - is essential, if
accelerating moves towards globalization are to maximize
opportunities for all - especially the world's poor. As Chad
Holliday recently stated in an address to the United Nations:
"Given existing technology and products, for all six billion people
on the planet to live like the average American, we would require
the equivalent of three planet Earths to provide the material,
create the energy and dispose of the waste." Such an option is
evidently not available and the book argues that far more
eco-efficient and socially equitable modes of development must be
pursued in order to allow poorer nations to raise their standards
of living. The solution provided by Walking the Talk is to mobilize
markets in favour of sustainability, leveraging the power of
innovation and global markets for the benefits of everyone - not
just the developed world. This means a further liberalization of
the market-a move that would be condemned by anti-globalization
protestors. Yet, as the authors argue, business cannot succeed in
failing societies. When the global market fails poor countries,
where most of the world's people live, it will also eventually fail
business. Subsidies for rich countries' products and tariffs
against poor countries' products do not constitute a "free" market,
or one that best serves people or business. Similarly, governments
cannot subsidize fossil fuels or water and expect businesses, or
ordinary citizens, to use them efficiently. So, a new, fair and
equitable market is needed. A market that can work for all. The
authors therefore call on protestors against globalization to stop
protesting against the market and instead to campaign instead
against the perverse policies that impoverish people and their
environment. Walking the Talk explores the opportunities and
challenges inherent in eco-efficiency (producing more with less),
corporate social responsibility, and a transparent, "wired" world
where reputations can be irreversibly damaged - or enhanced - in
real time. It also devotes a chapter to ways in which corporations
can and must "learn to change". It examines the new partnerships
needed among companies, governments, and civil society to produce
real change, and the ways in which these alliances can work for all
concerned. And it argues that consumer choice and consumer
information should be encouraged as a positive force for
sustainable development. Only what is valued is carefully used and
so creating markets for environmental goods and services may be the
best way to protect scarce resources. This is especially true in
efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, where
business-like approaches, such as the development of carbon
trading, offer workable solutions to policy-makers. Whether small,
medium or large, all businesses must innovate and change to meet
the social and environmental challenges of the coming years.
Walking the Talk provides a broad set of proven roadmaps to success
as well as real-life inspiration for business to embrace the real
challenge - to build a global economy that works for all the
world's people.
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