When the world leaders get together at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil in June you should expect an ambitious agenda and some inevitable jostling of vocals on proposed Sustainable Development Goals.
Are SDG’s going to save our planet?
Our global leaders think there is something in it. The UK Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman will propose ‘green accounting’ for all countries – essentially auditing the state of a nation’s rivers, forests and other landscapes; see the recent article in The Guardian (UK).
Ultimately this will put the pressure on business and agriculture to reduce the impact they have on the environment.
Ambition is great, it’s what drives change, but translating this into reality takes a lot more than just talk. Big impact means big changes, but lets face it, this isn’t going to happen overnight. First we need to make sustainability part of the common business language and core business operation. Yes, global organizations have been reporting on ‘sustainability’ for years now, of course there is a global pressure for them to do this. But if you add together the number of mid and smaller companies out there it quickly becomes clear that the impact they have on the environment is of equal concern.
For smaller and mid-sized companies sustainability can be considered more of a hindrance, but we can be sure that it will soon be a necessary for their success. We work with experts in the sustainability field so that we can advise our clients on the most effective way of incorporating sustainability into their core operations in a way that may even drive revenue streams. And equally important, we have extensive experience on how to communicate these changes – internally and externally to help position an organization as a guardian of our global natural capital.
