What 2016 teaches 2017 about corporate sustainability
By Sally Uren, CEO Forum for the Future
Two months into 2017 and most of us are far less clear about what this year might mean for corporate sustainability than we were at the start of 2016, when the seismic shocks that rocked the political landscape in June and November 2016 seemed both implausible and impossible. Which serves to prove that predicting the future is a fool’s game. Or is it? We can always look around us for signals of different possible futures, and use those to make different decisions and try to build the future we want, rather than be disrupted by the one we don’t.
The signals were there at the start of 2016; low levels of trust in business and government, and the various indicators of widening inequality. What no-one quite predicted was what happened when these two factors combined in communities away from the bubbles of prosperous urban centres and against a background of uncertainty.
What then, are the signals we can see at the start of 2017? They are, of course, very similar to those we saw at the start of 2016, but with three subtle differences:
- The lack of trust in the ‘establishment’ has deepened, with the word elite being increasingly used as a badge for anyone in possession of a real fact.
- The belief that nationalism might be the antidote for a rapidly changing, volatile world has strengthened in many.
- The verbal and ideological assault on post WW2 institutions, that were created to bring stability, has gained momentum.
But these aren’t the only signals we need to heed. In our analysis of trends to watch in 2017 we shone a light on other areas which might give us cause for slightly more optimism.
Take what we call citizen innovation: the rise of citizens who are embodying the change they want to see in the world, and experimenting to realise it in their own lives. These are individuals embracing community energy, experimenting with the sharing economy, and empowered by the digital world. These are individuals marching for what they believe in; a community of global change agents ready to transform our world for the better, not turn the clock back on decades of progress.
Take new technologies, including blockchain, perhaps both the most written about and the most misunderstood technology out there. Blockchain technology allows us to share data, goods and services without an intermediary, and in a way that can turbo-charge some of nascent features of a sustainable economy: hyper-transparent supply chains, peer to peer sharing of renewable energy, incorruptible data.
Back to the exam question then, how can we harness these signals of change, and what might all this mean for any organisation in 2017?
There are three parts to my answer.
- Do your part to address the two issues that crept up on so many businesses last year: inequality and localism. How is your organisation addressing the drivers of inequality that continue to splinter our society? How is your organisation building sustainable communities, touched by both your direct operations and those operations often miles and miles away in your supply chain?
- Be transparent, honest and authentic. With a heady combination of Fake News, 24 hour coverage, prevailing low levels of trust, now is the time to draw on your values and principles.
- Maintain ambition levels. I’ve been asked a few times this year if some of the more ambitious businesses we work with at Forum are dialling back when it comes to sustainability. My answer is no. We’re now seeing Quiet January (where were the strident business voices advocating for the SDGs?) flow into Slightly Louder February, and next I’m hoping for Make Waves March.
The world is definitely a more complex and volatile place than a year ago. But the need to transform the systems we rely on in order to create a sustainable world for us all is more urgent than ever. It’s time to stop talking about what we can’t do, and continue the conversation about what we can.
