ABSTRACT
Efficiency is a central tenet of the economic models used to devise public policy and business strategies, because efficiency is a key driver of competition and growth. Corporate Social Responsibility, which has become the measure of how businesses care about people and the environment beyond the usual economic factors, tends to be either oxymoronic or hypocritical. Sustainability has been framed in the language most palatable to Western business, to fit within the existing rules of the Western market. It has become a slave to business interests—often merely a label for business-as-usual strategies as opposed to planet-first motives. Consumers buy green products, drive low-emission cars, and are bombarded with marketing campaigns that incorporate environmentalism. Companies, governments, non-governmental organizations, foundations, research-rich universities, they have redefined sustainability for their own purposes. But business, and most notably groups such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, has taken the strongest role.
