The new corporate environment: Be Green or Die

Over the last 10 years I have felt increasingly frustrated from time to time as many NGO’s have been afraid to tell the truth in relation to companies. The challenge is not how companies can become greener, it is if they will be green or die (as Business week formulated it). It is not about being “best in class”, it is about delivering services that everyone on the planet can use without destroying the planet. Incremental improvements on products that are inherently unsustainable is often distracting the real discussion about what we need to do and what kind of innovation we need to see.

The Natural Step might be one of the few organizations that have a framework, the system conditions, that allow companies to know where they need to go. I would like to explore how key sectors that is in a position to develop solutions could use a framework to guide their strategy development. So far most tools have focused on how companies can reduce their problems, not provide solutions to others.