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Corporations and sustainable development: the latest fashion or a real commitment?

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WBCSD - ARESE

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Ethics Commission
François Ewald

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Anne Lauvergeon

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Corporations and sustainable development

François Ewald
Ethics Commission

Is SD an "in" concept, a necessary mutation, improvements to be invented, a world vision, a technocratic creation, a new consciousness, history in progress, a challenge for the XXIst century, a point in a cycle... or something else?

All of these, in a way. Sustainable development is above all a new language, born in the late sixties and in the seventies with the awareness that economic growth could not keep going the way it was. It is much more than just a fad, much deeper. It is a language through which people and industry define themselves. A now universal framework, it is no longer contested.
It derives from the concept of a unified planet, where problems are not local but shared. It is a vision of solidarity in which we are both linked to others and threatened by them. It is the first global ideology.

In the debate over sustainable development, it would appear the aim is not so much to last or continue, but rather to "invent a new departure". That is, to go beyond mere crisis solving and operate a mutation. Do you think industry can radically change its goals, its ways, its management, its production?

If the common goal aims at qualitative development as opposed to quantitative growth, how to evaluate - and who is to judge - if a firm contributes to more well-being?

Can we rely entirely on the sense of responsibility as expressed by industry?

Is SD an "in" concept, a necessary mutation, improvements to be invented, a world vision, a technocratic creation, a new consciousness, history in progress, a challenge for the XXIst century, a point in a cycle... or something else?