Sustainable development and climate change: a business perspective.

• Author: Mulder, Herman

Twenty years after the Brundtland Report asserted it was in the common interest of all peoples and nations to establish policies for sustainable development, the pace of sustainability is finally accelerating. Notwithstanding a number of serious political and security issues that politicians are struggling to effectively address, the case for sustainability in a global context has become more apparent, and even mainstreamed in some countries, during the last few years.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), anti-corruption and human rights initiatives and the climate challenge have all contributed to the notion that not only is collective action between the public and private sectors warranted to address these challenges, but also that sustainability has become a compelling value-creating proposition for business.

Information technology has accelerated our world towards becoming "flatter", smaller and more inclusive (even intrusive), with no place or time to hide anymore. Interconnectivity results in more interdependency and volatility--cultural, political and economic differences become more apparent and are drivers for tension and conflict. Therefore, we need to rebalance the fragile equilibrium of our coexistence, which requires urgent recalibration and redesign of standards, directions, governance structures and priorities, with the active involvement and shared responsibility from the developing "South+East", resulting in a new form of global purpose and solidarity. We cannot "walk alone" anymore.

Twenty years before the Brundtland Report, there was a race to put man on the moon. Once we got there, we looked back and realized that there was a major unfinished job on Earth, particularly as it is expected to house 9 billion people within 50 years, putting even more serious pressure on its already scarce natural capital. Moreover, if today's world may be characterized as "survival by a majority, and greed and waste by a minority", then in the next 50 years--which anticipates increased prosperity and wealth creation worldwide and, optimistically, the realization of the MDGs--greed will be a more dominant driver. Current undesired dependency on aid and philanthropy will be substituted by broad-based self-empowerment and entrepreneurship.

The new race to create a just, peaceful and sustainable world has begun. As the race to the moon was financed from government sources, the new race will essentially be private-sector funded, enabled by adequate regulatory frameworks and incentives. In this context, we are also realizing that...