The business of SUSTAINABILITY
INTERVIEW
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, recovery has been linked to sustainability. But what does it take to place it back firmly on the business agenda?
W
ith the arrival of COVID-19, the global push towards sustainability took a back seat. Now, as we approach the end of the year, talk has turned to the post-pandemic ‘green recovery’ as a means of reviving economies, reducing inequalities and upping resilience. OPI’s Michelle Sturman talks to Filippo Veglio, Managing Director, World Business Council of Sustainable Development (WBCSD) about its vision for creating a better future for everyone.
GREEN THINKING
SPECIAL
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OPI: Firstly, for anyone who may be unfamiliar with WBCSD, please provide a brief introduction to what you do. Filippo Veglio: WBCSD has been around for 25 years with the mission to make sustainable businesses more successful. We are a membership organisation representing a network of some 200 companies globally, covering approximately 20 industry sectors. WBCSD looks at how to embed the principles of sustainability into organisational strategy and decision-making, as well as the various disclosure mechanisms that firms have.
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OPI: In 2010, you developed Vision 2050. Could you give some background to this, including what’s happened over the previous decade, and the current ‘refresh’ of this plan? FV: Slightly over a decade ago, a dozen or so members sat down and asked how do we, from a commerce perspective and as ambitious organisations wanting to drive sustainability, articulate what the desired end point is of all our efforts? The result was expressed as building a world where nine billion people are living well and within the boundaries of the planet. One relatively groundbreaking detail revolved around the idea that the current business model is not sustainable. Referring to your question about the refresh, probably now more than ever, what we have is even less sustainable than previously thought. Clearly, there is an overshoot concerning what the Filippo Veglio planet can sustain. There is also the necessity to refresh our vision to take into account the [2008] financial crisis, geopolitical and technological developments and two incredibly strong agreements – the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A decade is a long time in terms of those developments, so we’re looking at how Vision 2050 needs to adapt to this reality.
OPI: WBCSD has talked about ‘resetting capitalism’ in respect of improving the way consumption and production works. It sounds like a grandiose idea. How do you even begin to accomplish this? FV: It’s a good question. We’re planning several mindset shifts which, without getting too technical, relate to nine elements – the same as in the original Vision – that express how we get to shape the refreshed Vision 2050 pathway and where the opportunities lie. Take, for example, energy and power or mobility systems. What actions are required by companies, governments, policymakers, finance and technology to move these to an increased level of sustainability? We’re in an era of transformation from 2020 to 2030, leading, hopefully, to at least partially reaching the SDGs. We have a very clear ambition in this regard and are doing our best from a business angle to contribute to them. It may sound grandiose, but we essentially look at it all in terms of three ‘Rs’ – reinvention, resilience and regeneration. I’ll briefly describe them because they are all interconnected.
