ABSTRACT
Businesses and their leaders need to adopt a “stewardship of the future” approach to contend with the massive systemic changes necessitated by the sustainability and climate change crises, combined with other important social and political dynamics. This shift requires changing the mind-set of leaders toward sustainability, and incorporating potentially transformative new practices that constitute a stewardship approach, including: adopting the principle of ecological circularity as expressed in the term “circular economy”; creating long-term transparency on environmental, social, and governance issues related to businesses; fostering innovative sustainability practices within the business itself and with respect to the company’s external stakeholders and natural environment; and being proactive with respect to policy creation in the political macro-environment within which the company exists. Changes will involve the company’s social license to operate, its core purpose, and recognizing that the problem of growth … is actually growth, demanding, among other things, new metrics and redefined fiduciary responsibilities.
But what, then, is to be done if we are to make a real difference for the world’s people and the planet? We must grasp the dimensions of the challenge. We must recognize that the drivers of that challenge include unsustainable lifestyles, production and consumption patterns and the impact of population growth. As the global population grows from 7 billion to almost 9 billion by 2040, and the number of middle-class consumers increases by 3 billion over the next 20 years, the demand for resources will rise exponentially. By 2030, the world will need at least 50 per cent more food, 45 per cent more energy and 30 per cent more water—all at a time when environmental boundaries are throwing up new limits to supply. This is true not least for climate change, which affects all aspects of human and planetary health.
Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing United Nations High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability, 2013
