The unnatural step
The sustainability icon and founder of a groundbreaking NGO is leaving his creation after 28 years. Here’s why.
The first of October was Mr. Karl-Henrik Robért’s 70th birthday. Turning sixty-five, he was celebrated with a generous reception at The Natural Step, the internationally recognized sustainability NGO he founded 28 years ago. As he turned seventy, they didn’t celebrate him at all. The peculiar reason for this is that the founder no longer agrees with the direction that the organization is taking and this week Mr. Robért announced he is resigning from his position as chief scientist.
In Sweden, The Natural Step is chiefly associated with a publication on sustainability that was widely distributed among Swedish households in the 1990s. The big and lasting impact of the organization on global sustainable development is not nearly as well-known as it deserves to be, nethier in Sweden nor in the world of sustainability.
Following the publication of the Brundtland report in 1987, in which the definition of sustainable development was established, Mr Robért and the NGO he founded set out to create a framework needed to make sustainable development actionable. With his background as a cancer researcher, Mr. Robért understood the importance of robust, scientifically underpinned definitions and developed a set of four system conditions in cooperation with researchers across a spectrum of various disciplines.
The system conditions quickly became the norm and The Natural Step framework, as it came to be known, provided a beacon of light for many organization that embraced sustainability, both in Sweden and in the rest of the world.
Scandic Hotels is the leading hotel operator in Scandinavia and by far the most sustainable hotel chain in the world, thanks to their collaboration with The Natural Step. Max Burgers made international headlines a few years ago when they decided to become carbon neutral, a bold move by a large regional hamburger chain. The decision was the result of using the four system conditions as a stepping stone for their sustainability efforts. When Nike changed the game by becoming the first major sports apparel company to embrace sustainability, it was because they had become convinced that the framework would enhance their innovation capabilities while making them more sustainable along the way. Interface rise to becoming a sustainability champion was in large thanks to a convincing presentation or Mr. Robert on how applying the four system conditions would provide a robust ground for all sustainability efforts. And when Starbucks became talking about sustainability, they posted the logo of The Natural Step on their website as a sign that they were serious and not engaged in green washing.
The global impact of The Natural Step is largely unknown to most Swedes, even those engaged in sustainability, and that is largely Mr. Robert’s fault. Everyone who knows Mr. Robért will testify that he’s an idealist, a kind and humble character with a genuine desire to change the world. Hence his decision to act on the larger global stage where his chances of making a bigger difference in the world were bigger than if he had confined himself to the smaller Swedish stage. History have already proven him right.
The drawback of Mr. Robert’s idealism and gentlemanly nature is that the organization success in being seen as a leading think-thank in sustainability was never replicated financially. The advisory services that was created to usher companies into an era of sustainability in order to finance further R&D has never been profitably for longer periods of time. The international foundation The Natural Step International (TNSI) was created by over twenty years ago was meant to be an umbrella for the advisory offices created wound the world to help companies in many markets make the transition to a more sustainable future. A culture of idealism dwarfed any attempt at capitalism and made TSNI spend much more time and efforts in getting the local offices of the ground than they spent helping their parent financially.
The Swedish office have always been a greenhouse for green people with good intentions, a hotbed for advisors helping companies embrace sustainability. Many of them left to join large corporations that we now know as sustainability champions in their industries. The indirect effect that The Natural Step Sweden has had on the sustainability scene in Sweden have always eclipsed the direct effect. This is partly because the leadership at the organization during the past few years has, ironically, been unsustainable which has hurt the bottom line.
Obvious to everyone involved and to everyone who have observed the organizations decline — except for perhaps the board and the management team itself — the organization have been led by people who, in stark contrast with Mr. Robért, seem to always have put their own self-interest before the organization’s best interest. People in leading positions have been mentally or physically absent and a few have even juggled external full-time assignments simultaneously. Those who have been rising to the occasion to provide leadership during long periods where there has been no leadership to talk about have routinely been out-maneuvered since their sense of responsibility has only been interpreted as a desire to gain power. Earlier this year, the Swedish arm of The Natural Step thus filed for bankruptcy.
In recent years, The Natural Step in Sweden was led by people who, in stark contrast with Mr. Robért, put their own self-interest before the organization’s best interest.
The current operation is in fact a different legal entity, but for the name. The new leadership seem to be a continuation of the old one, with the same unsustainable leadership traits, which is something Mr. Robért disapprove of. Earlier this week, Mr. Robért sent out a long letter to his friends and an abbreviated version (in Swedish) to everyone else, in which he explains his reason to depart. The current leadership team has failed to keep up with the scientific development in the field of sustainability, writes Mr. Robert. He goes on to explain that he is worried that the new leadership seem to be taking worrisome steps towards abandoning the four system conditions and is concerned about the values displayed by the leadership team. In other words: they are leading a sustainability NGO in an unsustainable way. What once used to be and NGO with an ambition to educate the general public seems to have turned into a company with an ambition to enrich a specific few.
Mr. Robert’s sense of sadness and disappointment over matters ending this way is understandable. If this wasn’t bad enough, it turns out The Natural Step International has not stood its ground against such behavior towards the new Swedish organization but the opposite: they have been welcomed into the community without reservation. The absence of any condemnation on their website for violation of ethics believed to be the essence of the values of The Natural Step International is damaging the reputation and credibility of that organization.
The departure of a founder based on the reason that he no longer wishes to be associated with the organization he founded is truly remarkable, yet entirely understandably. As unnatural such a step might be seen, it’s is the right step to take.
From now on, let’s separate the organization from the framework it created under the leadership of Mr. Robért in the 1990s. In ten years, when Karl-Henrik Robért celebrates his 80th birthday, the organization will likely be forgotten but the framework will live on.
Mr. Robért is to be acknowledged as the rightful creator of the framework that he is. For this and the impact that framework has had on a generation of practitioners and on corporate strategies, Mr. Robért alongside the handful of people who have played a significant role in helping the world understand how we can make the world a little more sustainable. If there ever is to be created a hall of fame for sustainability, that is where Mr. Robérts name belongs.
