Smarter and More Principled Business Decisions

Smarter and more principled business decisions can immediately confront and begin to correct the entrenched and very complex problems that we collectively face. Business can lead the way in eliminating any additional emissions of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. Business need not wait for governmental regulation to begin to lead the way in halting air pollution and acid rain. Business can begin—today—to stop habitat loss and increase the biodiversity on this planet. Sound business decisions can stop ocean pollution and prevent overfishing; stop top soil loss and the overuse of crop chemicals; reverse deforestation and dramatically slow the depletion of our shared natural resources. Moral and thoughtful business decisions can eliminate toxic chemicals and hazardous waste from ever even entering the world. And finally, business can step up and lead the way in alleviating the abject human poverty that threatens to overwhelm vast portions of humanity. There can be no greater business purpose than to commit to providing solutions to these deep and challenging problems.

Business drives the global economy in ways that were solely the realm of governments in the very recent past. As recently as 1970, 70 percent of the money flowing into the developing world came from government and only 30 percent came from business and the private sector. Today, that situation is more than reversed—80 percent of the money flowing to the developing world is from business and the governmental input has fallen to just 20 percent. The economic, social and environmental impact of business on both the developed and the developing world is enormous and growing every day. Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce and co-author of Natural Capitalism, perhaps said it best: “Business is the only mechanism on the planet today powerful enough to produce the changes necessary to reverse global environmental and social degradation.” Business has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead humanity into a sustainable future. Of all the tasks we have assigned to business, this one is the greatest, the most profound.