Interview

INTERVIEW The business of SUSTAINABILITY 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?

With 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 GREEN THINKING turned to the post-pandemic ‘green recovery’ as a means of reviving economies, reducing inequalities and upping resilience. SPECIAL

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.

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.

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.

The current model of capitalism is optimised mostly around financial capital and not necessarily towards delivering natural and social capital. Reinvention is a provocative word – used deliberately – but how do you reinvent and drive capitalism towards positive outcomes in line with sustainability imperatives?

Resilience, which I think unfortunately and tragically so because of COVID, is definitely seen now as a real need. The question is how to embed resilience more strongly in sustainability and transformational thinking.

Last but not least, regeneration. It’s one thing to always aim for more efficient outcomes, but how do you actually bring about greater regeneration for the ecosystems that surround us, and on which we depend? There is very little flexibility or slack in this. In this sense and it’s a very personal opinion, COVID has at least helped us to see the planet can rejuvenate if given the opportunity.

OPI: There is an emphasis on how businesses must be sustainable, and there’s talk about the ‘green recovery’ from governments currently, but how do you get them to work in tandem?

FV: WBCSD is a business organisation, but in our DNA and at our very core is the idea of collaboration. How do we bring firms together on pre-competitive issues that are affecting organisations from all kinds of sectors across different value chains?

In what way can collaboration be embedded in a wider sphere? For example, getting scientists to advise and challenge you on what you’re working on, or governments involving incentives or legislative frameworks to encourage this transition and accelerate transformation.

This is at the heart of Vision 2050, and I really want to underline that what we want to contribute is a business perspective which we can then table dialogues around. In the EU Green Deal (see also Focus, page 50), you can see the growth and climate agenda coming together.

I think there are some very interesting developments at the level of central banks, the EU, and from individual governments around the necessity to inject capital into the economy because of COVID, but in a way that drives them towards more sustainable outcomes.

OPI: Your members are corporates, but the majority of the world’s businesses are SMBs – how do we get them on board?

FV: You’re right, and I am giving you only the perspective of an organisation which works with those businesses that are committed to a programme of sustainability.

These are companies taking action at a strategic level, and their decision-making and disclosures are in line with the requirements and imperatives of sustainability. Is everybody on board with this? Absolutely not, let’s be honest.

WBCSD members are corporates – hundreds of thousands of employees and a huge reach through their supply chains. So the question becomes: In what way can they lift standards,

How do you reinvent and drive capitalism towards positive outcomes in line with sustainability imperatives?

For more from the interview with Filippo Veglio, visit the Magazine section on opi.net

bring their partners along in those value chains, and encourage adherence to guidelines?

Clearly, the main challenge is not to convince large, exposed brands about sustainability, but to bring this issue down to the reality of entrepreneurs, SMEs, family-owned companies – that’s not pejorative, it’s a positive. We explore the policy and finance incentives that could be given to them so they align behind it – not only because it’s a must, but due to the fact it makes good business sense.

We are trying to do our part by working globally through local counterparts which have in their membership over 5,000 organisations, some of which are smaller companies. We look at how to engage in advocacy and capacity building, as well as raising awareness about the exchange and adaptation of tools.

A key area for members is how to lead to bring others on board and create patience. It’s also about having personal empathy for the realities of many businesses across the world which are struggling. The sustainability debate is won or lost at this level.

We hope to provide the tools that can at least rally interest and then make sustainability more tangible for these kinds of smaller companies.