Sam Lakha, Manager, Volans Outreach.
Can Cleantech Davids Learn to Love Corporate Goliaths?
My first Fast Company blog, on the Clean & Cool Mission, appears here.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/03/can-cleantech-davids-learn-to-love-corporate-goliaths/.
- John ElkingtonAre CFOs Ready for Integrated Reporting?
An interesting new website was launched at midnight yesterday (or is that today?), focusing on integrated reporting - also a key focus of our ongoing ‘Transparent Economy’ project with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The website’s blog kicks off with an entry I wrote over the weekend on the agenda as we see it. More here.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/03/are-cfos-ready-for-integrated-reporting/.
- John ElkingtonHow Would You Spend $10 Billion?
Bill Gates recently committed $10 billion over the next decade to help develop and distribute vaccines to children in the developing world. So what would you have done with the money? I have been carrying a print-out of this Wall Street Journal online article by Ben Wright and Yasmine Chinwala around in my bag this week - found it fascinating.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/03/how-would-you-spend-10-billion/.
- John ElkingtonGates Switches from Mosquitoes to Fireflies
Was sent a link to Bill Gates’s latest TED talk, on climate and energy, and watched this evening between sessions. This time, instead of releasing mosquitoes into the audience to underscore the threat of mosquito-borne diseases, he opens a jar of fireflies. They don’t get very far, which I hope isn’t a reflection of the prospects for the energy “miracles” Gates calls for - but it’s an impressive presentation nonetheless. And it’s the first time I’ve come across the Terrapower idea.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/gates-switches-from-mosquitoes-to-fireflies/.
- John ElkingtonHow the Boomers Will Pay Back
David Metz, former Chief Scientist at the UK Department of Transport and one of the brains trust we are assembling for our project on ageing, entrepreneurship and sustainability, forwarded me a link to an interesting piece John Lloyd just did in the Financial Times. Far from pessimistic, Lloyd argues that rather than turning into selfish protectors of the status quo, Boomers will seek to repay the surplus they have taken out. “Watch this becoming a large political project of our next decade,” he concludes, “a planned and enabled use of the sap and vigour left in the autumnal generation, so that the younger ones see not a population of the demented, dependent old, but men and women alive and engaged in the possibilities of the world they will leave to their youngers and betters.”
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/how-the-boomers-will-pay-back/.
- John ElkingtonGreen Cities Event in San Francisco
The Clean & Cool Mission to San Francisco is going very well, though I’m finding my frequent flights of recent days have hammered whatever it was that I got a week-and-a-half ago down into my lungs. Still, I managed not to collapse into paroxysms of coughing during the Green Cities event last night. Today, the city is cloaked in rain, but I ventured out to have lunch with Jennifer Biringer and Patrin Watanatada of SustainAbility at a nice vegetarian restaurant. This evening: an event at Arup - cities again, I expect, a theme that makes much sense, since that’s where the bulk of us now live, and that innovations tend to evolve not independently but in clusters.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/green-cities-event-in-san-francisco/.
- John ElkingtonA Social Enterprise ‘Square Mile’ for London?
Was very interested to see the proposal that “a social enterprise ’square mile’, similar to London’s Canary Wharf business district, should be created as part of the 2012 Olympic legacy.” According to socialenterpriselove.com, the idea was suggested by Mark Sesnan, who heads one of the UK biggest social enterprises, leisure company GLL.
It chimes with our thinking around mapping and co-evolving a London Sustainability Cluster in the build-up to 2012. To date, we have had behind-the-scenes conversations with the likes of SustainAbility (which will be 25 in 2012), Futerra and the Carbon Disclosure Project, but it looks as though we need to open out the conversation.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/a-social-enterprise-square-mile-for-london/.
- John ElkingtonThe Coming Clash of Generations
Am preparing to lead a joint SustainAbility/Volans Book Club session tomorrow evening, which will focus on George Friedman’s The Next 100 Years. Reading it in its entirety recently on a flight from somewhere to somewhere, I came away even more convinced that we should be basing our work not so much on issues like climate change, important though that agenda is, but on demographics - overlaid with multiple forms of footprint analysis, of the sort that the Global Footprint Network is working on.
I will be taking in several other books that I think people should be reading, among them Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks, by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler. I am also nibbling at the edges of People Quake: Mass Migration, Ageing Nations and the Coming Population Crash, by Fred Pearce. And, on my to-buy list: The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Childrens’ Future - and Why They Should Give It Back by David Willetts. An excellent review of the latter can be found here.
All grist for the mill in the project we are developing on ageing, entrepreneurship and sustainability, with the first brainstorm to be hosted by Accenture on 3 March. A central point made by Willetts is that there is now “a breakdown in the balance between the generations.” How long, I wonder, before younger generations - and their champions - pitch their interests to the Baby Boomers in terms of human rights?
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/the-coming-clash-of-generations/.
- John ElkingtonThe Phoenix Economy, Take 2
A central theme in our 2009 report The Phoenix Economy was that the global economy was embroiled in something very different to a normal recession - and that the dynamics had more to do with the sort of deep economic and business cycles that economists like Nikolai Kondratiev and Joseph Schumpeter explored. At the time, even though many comparisons were beginning to be made with the Great Depression of the 1930s, we experienced significant push-back from people who felt we were exaggerating the risks. Well, maybe we were and maybe we are, but today’s Financial Times runs an article by Niall Ferguson that underscores the sovereign-debt-related risks now spreading out from Greece, rattling Spain and Portugal, sending tremors through the UK financial system - and very likely headed America’s way.
I have often used a slightly mutated version of a phrase I first heard many years ago, to the effect that “History may not repeat itself, but by God it rhymes.” I remain convinced that we are going through a period of what will eventually be seen to have been Schumpeterian creative destruction. The key question in my mind is whether we can find the vision, the political will and the resources to drive the processes of creative reconstruction that are so clearly needed.
With December’s COP15 summit signalling the dysfunctions of the current system of global governance in the face of the climate challenge, and the Obama Administration (flagged by the several hundred social and environmental entrepreneurs we polled for The Phoenix Economy as a key reason for hope) in disarray on a number of fronts, we can only hope that there is truth in what they used to say, that the darkest hour is just before dawn.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/the-phoenix-economy-take-2/.
- John ElkingtonSpawning the Social Equivalents of Steve Jobs
I missed this when it first came out in the New York Times, but picked it up via Facebook today. Tom Friedman suggests some of the things Barack Obama should now do to revive his Presidency. Here’s a brief sample of the op-ed article:
“Obama should launch his own moon shot. What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of ‘Start-Up America.’
“Obama should make the centerpiece of his presidency mobilizing a million new start-up companies that won’t just give us temporary highway jobs, but lasting good jobs that keep America on the cutting edge. The best way to counter the Tea Party movement, which is all about stopping things, is with an Innovation Movement, which is all about starting things. Without inventing more new products and services that make people more productive, healthier or entertained — that we can sell around the world — we’ll never be able to afford the health care our people need, let alone pay off our debts.”
The Rework the World site on Facebook already has comments about how we should define entrepreneurship here, but the spirit of this piece ticks so many boxes on our agenda it’s hard to know which ‘Categories’ not to tick on Word Press.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/spawning-the-social-equivalents-of-steve-jobs/.
- John ElkingtonClean & Cool Mission on YouTube
Later in the month, we are part of a Study Mission to California and Silicon Valley, co-organised with Polecat and the UK Technology Strategy Board. An interview of principals of all three organisations covering the background and ambitions can be found on YouTube, here. This mission is a direct follow-on from our 2008 study, The Phoenix Economy, and links to many of our core interests around e.g. cleantech, investment, jobs and employment. And it is a great opportunity to meet and engage with the entrepreneurs and/or CEOs of 20 leading enterprises tackling challenges related to the broader sustainability agenda.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/clean-cool-mission-on-youtube/.
- John ElkingtonSituational vs. Sustainable Values
I really like this piece by Tom Friedman, finding the distinction between situational and sustainable values both insightful and helpful.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/02/situational-vs-sustainable-values/.
- John ElkingtonWill the Chinese Be the Saudis of Clean Energy?
Quite likely, according to today’s New York Times. “China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year,” the paper reports. ”China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.” Great news, from a planetary and sustainability perspective, but there is a major potential downside: “These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.”
“Most of the energy equipment will carry a brass plate, ‘Made in China,’ ” said K. K. Chan, the chief executive of Nature Elements Capital, a private equity fund in Beijing that focuses on renewable energy. President Obama, in last week’s State of the Union speech, “sounded an alarm that the United States was falling behind other countries, especially China, on energy. The United States and other countries are offering incentives to develop their own renewable energy industries, and Mr. Obama called for redoubling American efforts. Yet many Western and Chinese executives expect China to prevail in the energy-technology race.”
Japan’s rise a couple of decades ago spurred the West to respond, particularly in areas like total quality management (TQM), so - just maybe - we can hope that China’s rise in renewables will spur the West to take the need for a sustainable energy transition much more seriously, giving powerful long-term political signals, creating the appropriate market incentives and investing in the underlying technologies. The sheer scale of China’s export trade and potential domestic markets give it a major advantage in terms of scaling, but history suggests that there’s nothing like a profound, potentially destabilising competitive advantage to spur action in rival camps.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/will-the-chinese-be-the-saudis-of-clean-energy/.
- John ElkingtonWSF and Altruism vs. Economics
Having given up Economics after a year of university-level study in 1968, I have remained interested in the dismal science - indeed helped develop The Other Economic Summit (TOES) in the early 1980s. Though these days I expect to find more of direct relevance coming out of the World Economic Forum (WEF) than out of the rival World Social Forum (WSF), the Other News service covered the question of whether another sort of economics might be possible earlier this week - and suddenly a series of things I have ben reading have converged into this space.
As Other News reported: Democratising economics as well as politics is essential for ending irrationality and discrimination as part of the struggle for social and environmental justice, said participants at one of the panels of the seminar assessing the World Social Forum’s (WSF) first 10 years. The field of “the gratis economy” or “freeconomics” is “expanding dramatically” with the rising importance of knowledge as a major component in goods and services, economist Ladislau Dowbor, a professor at the Catholic University of São Paulo, said in his presentation.
Using a street is free, and no one wonders about the cost of construction and maintenance. The same is true of vaccines, state schools and a wide range of public goods supplied at no cost to the user.
But of course these do have costs, which are usually paid through taxes contributed by the general population, or surcharges on other products, he said. Vaccines save so much in health costs that it would make no sense to charge individual beneficiaries.
As the knowledge society advances, freeconomics is expanding, based on relations that are entirely different from those derived from material goods, he said.
All of which plays very much into the original TOES agenda, as did the first thing I read in today’s Davos issue of the FT Weekend Magazine, published by the Financial Times. This was the charming story of Michael Swaine, who some nine years ago began setting up his sewing machine in the street, in San Francisco’s troubled Tenderloin district, noted for street crime and prostitution, and offering to mend people’s clothes for free. The results are reported here.
So far, so good. But then I flicked three pages forward and find the latest piece by ‘Undercover Economist’ Tim Harford, at which point the pendulum began to swing again. His argument is that altruism is over-rated. The idea, for example, that by underpaying nurses we select for those with a true sense of vocation is blatantly false, he says. Sometimes, he concludes, the way to get the results you want is to pay for them.
The distinction between private and public goods is one that has been central to the sustainability agenda, but one that I have often struggled to get my brain around. Basically, like many people, I would love to live in a world driven by altruism, and come across endless examples of extraordinary people doing unbelievably altruistic things in the world, but suspect that, once again, this isn’t going to turn out to be either/or, either altruism or payment, but both/and. The challenge is to find out which approach is best suited to the task in hand - and to be aware that the appropriate solution may well change over time as the scaling of solutions proceeds. The way that we come to resolve such tensions is not just a question of our individual values, but a central, determining feature of any culture, any civilization.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/wsf-and-altruism-vs-economics/.
- John ElkingtonSkoll Global Threats Fund Makes First Grants
At a time when the number of challenges is growing almost exponentially, it’s helpful when thoughtful, experienced people sit back and attempt to pull clearer signals out of the background noise. That’s what the Skoll Foundation has done in building up to the launch of its Global Threats Fund.
The Global (previously ‘Urgent’) Threats Fund was created in 2009 by Jeff Skoll to support innovative ideas and individuals combating those global challenges which, if unchecked, could bring the world to its knees. It has just announced its first round of grants, which are designed to “work towards the elimination of all nuclear weapons (Ploughshares Fund) and the promotion of a peaceful, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (J Street).”
“The challenges we face are huge and complex and we need to leverage better the many disparate efforts underway to tackle them,” said Skoll, who also founded Participant Media and the Skoll Foundation and served as eBay’s first president. “We must create powerful networks of like-minded partners, build public consciousness and drive policy choices that work. The mission of the Skoll Global Threats Fund is to confront global threats imperiling humanity by seeking solutions, strengthening alliances, and spurring the actions needed to safeguard the future.”
The first two grants go to:
- Ploughshares Fund: $1 million to engage policy officials and expand public support to stop nuclear proliferation and promote reduction of global nuclear arsenals. Contact: Naila Bolus nbolus@ploughshares.org.
- J Street: $200,000 in growth capital to this pro-peace organization founded to promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflictspeacefully and diplomatically. J Street is redefining what it means to be pro-Israel to include recognition of the urgency of establishing a Palestinian state.
Additional information is available at www.skollglobalthreats.org.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/skoll-global-threats-fund-makes-first-grants/.
- John ElkingtonThe Triple Bottom Line of Social Enterprise
It’s over 15 years since I first came up with the triple bottom line concept, which subsequently helped spawn any number of related formulations, including ‘double bottom line’ ands ‘blended value’ - and it’s fascinating to see it resurfacing in the social enterprise area.
That said, when I attended what I think was the first Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship summit in Geneva in 2001, the TBL was already very much on the agenda, with a nice plug from Jed Emerson, who went on to develop the blended value concept. And it has also been interesting to see the TBL resurfacing in the mainstream, with coverage in the business media (for example, The Economist), in new books (for example, Andrew Savitz’s The Triple Bottom Line) and the work of TBLI Group in the financial world.
The 5-month project I’m currently leading - alongside Nelmara Arbex of Global Reporting Initiative - will take us back into TBL territory. And beyond, given that we are working to a 10-year timescale. We’ll be posting updates on that shortly, but we are delighted to have the Dow Chemical Company, Novo Nordisk and SAP in alongside as project partners.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/the-triple-bottom-line-of-social-enterprise/.
- John ElkingtonFreeplay Offers Lifeline to Haitian Earthquake Victims
Given the scale of the devastation, it’s hard to imagine anything making much of an impact in short order, but social entrepreneurs have been piling in to Haiti to help in the aftermath of the disaster. Now two-time Academy Award winning actor Tom Hanks, and Freeplay Foundation ambassador, is kick-starting Freeplay’s Haiti Humanitarian Radio Relief Fund for earthquake survivors in Haiti.
Access to information is critical both during an emergency and in reconstruction. Updates from local and international sources is an urgent need, along with water, food, shelter and medical attention. Radio stations are broadcasting and Freeplay’s radios will help aid agencies, the UN and the government get essential information to the population.
Freeplay has a strong track record in humanitarian relief, having been directly involved in the Balkans conflict, post-genocide Rwanda, the Mozambique floods, in refugee camps in Tanzania and Kenya, and the Asian tsunami. With AM/FM and short-wave bands, the radios will pick up both local and international stations, operating on solar energy, coupled with a fail-safe winding mechanism.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/freeplay-offers-lifeline-to-haitian-earthquake-victims/.
- John ElkingtonWEF’s Facebook Survey Sees Financial Crisis As Crisis of Values
Over two-thirds of people believe the current economic crisis is also a crisis of ethics and values. But only 50% think universal values exist. These are among the findings of the World Economic Forum’s Faith and the Global Agenda: Values for the Post-Crisis Economy, an annual report on issues related to the role of faith in global affairs. The report contains a unique new public opinion poll on values conducted through Facebook. The poll reached over 130,000 respondents in France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States.
The poll results point to a trust deficit regarding values in the business world. Only one-quarter of respondents believe that large, multinational businesses apply a values-driven approach to their sectors, while over 40% believe that small and medium-sized businesses apply such an approach. Almost two-thirds of respondents believe that people do not apply the same values in their professional lives as they do in their private lives. When asked whether businesses should be primarily responsible to their shareholders, their employees, their clients and customers, or all three equally, almost half of the respondents chose the option of “all three equally”.
When asked to identify the values most important for the global political and economic system, almost 40% chose honesty, integrity and transparency; 24% chose others’ rights, dignity and views; 20% chose the impact of actions on the well-being of others and 17% chose preserving the environment.
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said the report underlines the need for a set of values around which our global economic institutions and mechanisms of international cooperation must be built: “Our present system fails to meet its obligations to as many as 3 billion people in the world. Our civic, business and political cultures must be transformed if we are to close this gap.”
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/wefs-facebook-survey-sees-financial-crisis-as-crisis-of-values/.
- John ElkingtonThis Is Not An Airplane
Thanks to a Facebook response to a blog entry I did on James Cameron’s Avatar, I watched Bertrand Piccard’s 2009 TED talk this morning - and found it profoundly moving. His discussion of what ballast you have to drop and what altitude you need to aim for in order to catch winds favourable to moving in the direction you want to head resonated strongly. As did his comment about the motivation to be had in doing what others consider impossible.
But, most of all, his use of the ballooning metaphor to articulate what lies ahead of us in weaning our civilization off fossil fuels was a near-perfect encapsulation of what we are aiming towards with Volans.
And I liked his argument that his team’s efforts to get his new solar plane to make it through the night, when there is no solar radiation to be had, symbolise our collective challenge of making it through the dark night as our economies go cold turkey and begin the switch to renewable energy.
I signed up to TED immediately, if belatedly. Only wish this sort of stuff could be delivered intravenously, or while I sleep. There’s a growing amount of it - and I tend to get a little over-excited.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/this-is-not-an-airplane/.
- John ElkingtonThe Methuselah Generation
I was born in 1949, which landed me squarely in the Baby Boom generation. Having celebrated my sixtieth birthday in June, I find my mind has been turning to some of the challenges that will be posed by the ageing (or, in the USA, aging) of my generation around the world. That this line of thought chimes in with the zeitgeist is underscored by an editorial in today’s Financial Times, which considers how the baby boomers will change the ageing equation.
The implications for employers range from a loss of talent as growing numbers of boomers retire, through the likelihood that many boomers will want to stay on in employment - though there is likely to be a growing interest in part-time rather than full-time work. In addition to a greater need for employer flexibility, there will be an increasing need for a focus on wellness at work, with employers expected to help older employees tackle short-term illness before it becomes long term.
I have long argued that if people want to understand what sustainability means in practice, they should look at the future strains likely to be imposed on public health care and pension systems as the ageing trend accelerates across the developed world. The intergenerational dimensions are likely to be pretty taxing. Among the questions that I find interesting: (1) How will the ageing trend impact societal thinking around sustainability issues? (2) How will it impact the appetite for the sort of risk, innovation and entrepreneurship that is needed to jump our economies and societies to more sustainable states? (3) How can we best tap the skills of the growing number of retirees and semi-retired people to support social and environmental entrepreneurship? (4) How will the ageing trend impact politics, lobbying and, over time, the prevailing paradigm that frames how we think about ourselves, others and the wider world? And (5), practically, as the first Green generation goes grey (or, in the USA, gray), how can we green the greys/grays?
To jump-start our thinking, Volans hosted a couple of working sessions last year, working closely with Professor David Grayson and Dr David Metz, with further sessions planned for 2010. As our thinking and work evolves this year, we will begin to post a growing number of blogs on related issues. For the moment, however, this is by way of an invitation to readers to get in touch and help cross-connect us to other thinking and work in this and related fields. The simplest way to do this is to email me at john@volans.com.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/the-methuselah-generation/.
- John ElkingtonWhen will a Pope call for birth control?
Given the reality that is the Catholic Church, it’s encouraging that Pope Benedict used yesterday’s New Year address to underline the need for environmental responsibility - and to change their lifestyles to save the planet. But I wonder whether he has ever been introduced to the single most fundamental equation in the sustainability field: I = P x A x T?
The logic here is that the environmental impact of an individual, community, corporation or economy is a function of population numbers times the prevailing levels of affluence/lifestyles times the level of technology used to sustain those lifestyles across that population. Perhaps its time for the Vatican to launch an internal environmental literacy program? Perhaps Daniel Goleman’s book Ecological Intelligence could be laid alongside all those Bibles?
In a world headed towards 9-10 billion people, if you believe the demographers, how long will it be before the Vatican finally bites the bullet and accepts the need for population control? Until it does, pious calls for lifestyle changes are unlikely to move the needle very much. How long before we are lucky enough to see a truly ‘unreasonable’ Pope in St Peter’s Square?
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/when-will-a-pope-call-for-birth-control/.
- John ElkingtonBRAC Founder Fazle Hasan Abed Honoured
Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and Chairperson of BRAC, is to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services in tackling poverty and empowering the poor in Bangladesh and more globally. Abed is the first person of Bangladesh origin to be honoured with a knighthood by the British Crown since 1947. He receives his knighthood for his work spanning four decades in education, health, human rights and social development and for bringing financial services to the doorstep of millions of the poor in an effort to eradicate poverty in Bangladesh and countries in Asia and Africa.
Abed, who was profiled in our 2008 book, The Power of Unreasonable People, published by Harvard Business Press, was born in 1936 into a landed family in Baniachong in Bangladesh’s Habiganj district. He matriculated from Pabna Zilla School and went on to complete his higher secondary education from Dhaka College. He left home to attend Glasgow University, where, and in an effort to break away from tradition and do something radically different - he studied Naval Architecture. But there was little work in ship building in Bangladesh and a career in Naval Architecture would make returning home difficult. With that in mind, Abed joined the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in London, completing his professional education in 1962.
He returned to Bangladesh to join Shell Oil Company and quickly rose to head its finance division. His time at Shell exposed Abed to the inner workings of a large conglomerate and provided him with insight into corporate management, which would become invaluable to him later in life. It was during his time at Shell that the devastating cyclone of 1970 hit the coastal regions of Bangladesh, killing 300,000 people. The cyclone had a profound effect on Abed - in the face of such devastation, the comforts and perks of a corporate executive’s life ceased to have any attraction for him.
Together with friends, Abed created HELP, an organization that provided relief and rehabilitation to the worst affected in the island of Manpura, which had lost three quarters of its population in the disaster. Soon after, Bangladesh’s own struggle for independence from Pakistan began and circumstances forced Abed to leave the country. He found refuge in England, where he set up Action Bangladesh to lobby for his country’s independence with the governments of Europe.
When the war ended in December 1971, Abed sold his flat in London and returned to the newly independent Bangladesh to find his country in ruins. In addition, the 10 million refugees who had sought shelter in India during the war had started to return home. Their relief and rehabilitation called for urgent efforts. Abed decided to use the funds he had generated from selling his flat to initiate his own. He selected the remote region of Sulla in northeastern Bangladesh to start his work. This work led him and his organisation, BRAC, to deal with the long-term task of improving the living conditions of the rural poor.
In a span of only three decades, BRAC grew to become the largest development organisation in the world in terms of the scale and diversity of its interventions. As BRAC grew, Abed ensured that it continued to target the landless poor, particularly women, a large percentage of whom live below the poverty line with little or no access to resources or conventional development efforts.
BRAC now operates in more than 69 thousand villages of Bangladesh and covers an estimated 110 million people through its development interventions that range from primary education, essential healthcare, agricultural support and human rights and legal services to microfinance and enterprise development. In 2002, BRAC went international by taking its range of development interventions to Afghanistan. Since then, BRAC has expanded to a total of eight countries across Asia and Africa, successfully adapting its unique integrated development model across varying geographic and socioeconomic contexts.
Our warmest congratulations.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2010/01/brac-founder-fazle-hasan-abed-honoured/.
- John ElkingtonDemocracy as Killer App No. 3
In this context, a reflection by Niall Ferguson in today’s Financial Times on the meaning of the past decade struck me as particularly apt and insightful. He explores the reasons behind the astonishing - and accelerating - shift to the east in the world’s economic (and, ultimately, political) centre of gravity. In the process, he asks what it was that gave the West its “ascendancy”, through the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the ensuing race around the world, as far as the Antipodes?
His answer is that the West benefited from six “killer apps”. These were: “the capitalist enterprise, the scientific method, a legal and political system based on private property rights and individual freedom, traditional imperialism, the consumer society and what Weber probably misnamed the ‘Protestant’ ethic of work and capital accumulation as ends in themselves.”
Some of these, Ferguson argues, particularly numbers one and two, China has already replicated. Other, and among these he includes imperialism, consumption and the work ethic, it is making headway on. “Only number three,” he notes, “the Western way of law and politics - shows little sign of emerging in the one-party state that is the People’s Republic.” But, he muses, “does China need dear old democracy to achieve enduring prosperity?”
Those two words, enduring and prosperity, put the question slap-bang into the heartland of the territory the FDSD team is beginning to map out. As we wrestle with the question of how to shift paradigms in ways that we want, we also have to be aware that paradigms often shift under their own steam. As we reflect on future pathways to scale for solutions we find exciting, the ways in which those solutions will play out will be powerfully influenced by paradigmatic and civilisational trends of the sort discussed here.
Read Niall Ferguson’s fascinating article and ponder our collective future trajectories - as I did. Then join us at the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development, in 2010 and beyond, in the quest to find out how to marry the best of West and East in pursuit of sustainability. For updates, keep an eye out here.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/democracy-as-killer-app-no-3/.
- John ElkingtonDo You Want Ice With That?
Water is an increasingly political issue worldwide - and it comes in many forms. “From the Arctic sea ice to the Antarctic interior and the mountainous peaks of Peru, Alaska, and Tibet, ice is melting at an alarming rate. The accelerating loss of ice sheets, sea ice, and glaciers is one of the most powerful and striking indicators of a warming climate.” So says Alexandra Giese of the Earth Policy Institute in a new briefing.
Here’s more of the briefing:
“The most notable ice loss in recent years has been the shrinking of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. From the beginning of the satellite record in 1979 through 1996, ice area decreased at a steady rate of 3 percent per decade in response to rising temperature. In the following decade, ice area decreased by 11 percent, reaching a dramatic minimum in 2007. In September of that year, sea ice occupied only 3.6 million square kilometers, an area 27 percent smaller than the previous record low (in 2005) and 38 percent smaller than the 1979–2007 average. Summer sea ice coverage has increased slightly in the last two years, but it is still far below the long-term average.
“Declines in ice thickness and volume are just as dramatic. The combination of these trends has led to a decrease in the amount of ice that persists in the Arctic through multiple seasons. Multiyear ice is more stable and less susceptible to break-up than the thin, short-lived seasonal ice that forms each winter. Between 1987 and 2007, the amount of ice at least five years old has plummeted from 57 to just 7 percent. Drastic changes in sea ice cover have led scientists from the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to predict that the summer of 2037 could see the first ice-free Arctic in a million years. Other scientists have predicted a largely ice-free summertime Arctic as early as 2015.
“Declining sea ice is a self-reinforcing trend because of what is known as the albedo effect. Ice reflects up to 70 percent of the sunlight that reaches it, while ocean water reflects only 6 percent and absorbs the rest as heat. This means that as soon as a small amount of sea ice disappears and exposes the underlying ocean water, the system starts absorbing more energy, which leads to further ice melt. Dangers associated with this runaway warming scenario include rapid destruction of diverse ecosystems that support polar bears, seals, and walruses, among other organisms; a thawing of the Arctic tundra, which can release copious amounts of the greenhouse gas methane; and increased warming of nearby Greenland.
“Satellite data indicate that the Greenland ice sheet has been experiencing accelerated melt, particularly over the past several decades. In fact, Greenland’s average annual melt between 2002 and 2005 was triple that of the 1997-2003 period, and the summer melt area on the ice sheet has increased 30 percent since 1979. In recent years, changes in ice dynamics associated with higher temperatures have caused glaciers to flow faster, leading to additional ice loss. Melt water lubricates the base of glaciers that carry ice from the interior to the sea, causing their movement to accelerate (for example, the speed of Greenland’s largest outlet glacier doubled in just five years). Surface lakes propagate fractures through the ice sheet as they drain, further lubricating the base and weakening the ice sheet with a network of cracks. And glaciers have been calving into the ocean with enough force to be detected on seismometers all over the world. The frequency of th! ese “glacial earthquakes” has increased in recent years; in 2005, for example, there were over twice as many quakes as in any year before 2002. All told, Greenland lost 1,500 gigatons of ice between 2000 and 2008, more water than is used in U.S. homes and industry over a six-year period.
“In the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctica, too, is showing signs of a warming climate. Annual ice mass loss for the entire continent more than doubled between the periods 2002–06 and 2006–09. In March 2009, a 400-square-kilometer piece of ice broke off of the Wilkins ice shelf, the tenth ice shelf collapse on the Antarctic Peninsula in recent times. The most notable break-up was that of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002, which covered some 3,000 square kilometers, roughly the size of Rhode Island. The West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) lost 59 percent more ice in 2006 than it did in 1996. A fast-flowing drainage glacier of WAIS, the Pine Island glacier, experienced a quadrupling in its average rate of volume loss between 1995 and 2006. Previously well-established as stable or even gaining mass, the East Antarctic ice sheet may in fact be shrinking. A late 2009 Nature Geoscience study points toward a net melting of the ice sheet since 2006. This new discovery adds to the ever-growing fears of ice sheet collapse and sea level rise. With increased melting, scientists say sea level could rise as much as 2 meters by the end of this century.
“Mountain glaciers are much smaller in comparison to the polar ice sheets and, thus, do not pose nearly as great a threat to world sea levels. But due to their proximity and importance to human settlements, their melting is of grave and immediate concern. Melting mountain glaciers can create hazards like rockfalls, avalanches, and outburst floods from glacial lakes; they also have significant impacts on freshwater supplies. Worldwide, the average annual rate of mountain glacier melt was over twice as great between 1996 and 2005 as during the previous decade. The World Glacier Monitoring Service named 2007, the most recent year for which data are available, the eighteenth consecutive year of retreat for the 30 reference glaciers measured since 1976.
“The glaciers in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau make up the largest body of ice outside the poles and provide water to Asia’s major river systems, which supply water to over 2 billion people. This water is vital for drinking and for irrigating the wheat and rice crops in China and India, the largest in the world. In recent years, Himalayan glaciers have been retreating at rates ranging from 10 to 60 meters per year. As the glaciers disappear, the dry-season flows of river systems that depend on them may decrease by up to 70 percent, making them seasonal rivers. River systems at risk include the Yangtze, Yellow, Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra.
“The Andes, home to 90 percent of the world’s tropical glaciers, are also experiencing rapid melt and a shrinking water supply: between the early 1970s and 2006, Peruvian and Bolivian glaciers lost about one third of their surface area. In Peru, glacier and snow melt provides 80 percent of the fresh water, used not only for drinking but also for hydroelectricity, which supplies more than 80 percent of the country’s power. In neighboring Bolivia, the La Paz governor is already anticipating severe water shortages and considering a program for migration out of the capital city. The 18,000-year-old Chacaltaya glacier, home of the country’s only ski resort, disappeared in 2009.
“The glaciers of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, long cultural and spiritual icons, decreased in area by 84 percent between 1912 and 2007 and continue to melt rapidly. In Alaska, 98 percent of glaciers are currently thinning or retreating. And accelerated melting puts Montana’s Glacier National Park on track to lose its namesakes by 2020.
“These current ice loss trends are alarming, but perhaps more disconcerting is the fact that ice melt is occurring even faster than scientific models have predicted, emphasizing the need to cut emissions before the world sees ice sheet collapse, catastrophic inundation of low-lying coastal areas, and widespread water and food shortages. After all, in the words of Stockholm University professor Johan Rockström, ‘We don’t know how to refreeze the Greenland ice sheet.’”
While the reptilian part of the brain may be tempted to think that China and India deserve what’s coming to them, given their COP15 negotiating positions, the likely social, economic and environmental consequences will be off the scale - so we need to think mammalian.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/do-you-want-ice-with-that/.
- John ElkingtonCOP15: Politics of the Liferaft
“Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight,” said John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, “with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport.” Increasingly, the take on COP15 is that it failed in almost every department, aside from the rhetoric about keeping the rise in average temperatures below 2 degrees C. Even the COP15 website itself admits that scientists and NGOs are pretty much uniformly “shell-shocked”.
In the eye of the storm: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
God knows how the delegates put up with it, from (1) the leak of the “Danish text” of a set of proposals prepared in advance of COP15 by a group of rich countries through (2) to Sudan lecturing the world on human rights and (3) to the number of observer passes being cut from 15,000 to just 90. people made the best of it: One entrepreneurial colleague, for example, ended up sleeping behind a temporary wall in the conference centre, to avoid the cull of observers - and then benefitted from an amnesty, being allowed to stay in.
On the face of it, however, this has been one of the most shambolic exercises in UN-led global governance for quite some time. Still, even though I have always avoided such events, finding the endless horse-trading profoundly wildly inappropriate to the nature and scale of the challenges we face, COP15 did at least illuminate the fault-lines in emergent twenty-first century politics - very much like an X-ray shows the invisible weaknesses in metals and ceramics.
I’m not sure the image will play well outside the UK, but the Sunday Times today has Obama’s face dropped into a photograph of Neville Chamberain returning from his meeting with “Mr. Hitler”, brandishing his meaningless piece of paper. Obama, who I admire enormously, now seems to have been wrong-footed twice in Copenhagen - and it is tempting to agree that he shouldn’t have turned up for COP15, given his profound distraction from the climate agenda because of US health care politics. America is divided on climate, as on so many issues, and the sense of a country adrift grows apace.
In many ways, it is unfair to heap the blame onto China, as Obama and others have tried to do - but the giant country clearly has much to learn about how to operate diplomatically on the world scene. Meanwhile, there is plenty of blame to go around, with fractious internal politics during the conference within Denmark, the host country, within the EU, and pretty much in most other directions you care to point out. What we saw was what I am tempted to call ‘Liferaft Politics’, with endless squabbles for the tiller, water and food - and desperate struggles to determine who’s in and who’s out.
Once again, I’m glad not to have been involved. But this is a desperately sad - and (not to put too fine a point on it) potentially civilisation-threatening - outcome. Many eyes will now switch to the ‘Road to Mexico’, and COP16, but I am tempted to agree with Julian (Lord) Hunt, a former Director-General of the UK Meteorological Office. Writing in today’s Observer, he warns that we may be heading towards a future in which no comprehensive successor to the Kyoto regime is possible. “It is therefore crucial,” he says, “that the centre of gravity of decision-making on how we respond to climate change moves towards the sub-national level. The need for such a shift from ‘top down’ to ‘bottom up’ is becoming clearer by the day.”
Business organisations are already lamenting the failure to agree on a clear, predictable framework to regulate and drive down greenhouse emission - an analysis which is understandable, as far as it goes. But, at the same time, the spotlight is likely to shift from the muscle-bound, strangulated, sclerotic world of mainstream public and private sector leadership to new generations of innovators, entrepreneurs and investors who plunge in and create the future in the face of seemingly impossible odds.
That’s where we are focusing our efforts at Volans. The need to harness the Power of Unreasonable People is greater than ever. So I head towards 2010 not so much angry with the short-sightedness and self-interest of today’s political incumbents (I may be politically naive and a little romantic, but I’m not completely stupid) as determined to do our damnedest to answer the question, “If not COP, what?”
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/cop15-politics-of-the-liferaft/.
- John ElkingtonPopulation Control at Volans
Source: Wikipedia
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/population-control-at-volans/.
- John ElkingtonThe Power of Positive Vision
One key way of alerting people to the positive side of the great change processes we must drive in the coming decades is to use new visualisation techniques to help them experience the future. A case in point is the work of Arnold Imaging. We met Jonathan Arnold at last week’s Cineforum. I particularly liked their focus on urban density as an issue, seeing a need to reconcentrate sprawled cities. This was the subject of my postgraduate thesis way back in 1974, when - among other things - I contrasted the urban visions of Frank Lloyd Wright and his erstwhile student, Paulo Soleri, whose Arcosanti I visited in 1973.
As Jonathan puts it: “The Future We Want exhibit, website, and educational curriculum will paint a positive vision for a sustainable future. [The linked] video is an example of the quality of videos that will be shown in the exhibit and site. A combination of live action filming and computer generated graphics are used to touch the viewer emotionally and show how walkable urban places can offer a high quality of life and a lower carbon footprint.”
For more information and to watch the video, please contact jarnold@arnoldimaging.com or visit futurewewant.org.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/the-power-of-positive-vision/.
- John Elkington60% of Citizens Support Government Action on Climate
In the midst of the global recession, GlobeScan’s new 23-country survey of public attitudes to climate change found that over 60 percent support their governments making investments to address the climate challenge even if these investments hurt the economy. And majorities in almost half the countries polled want their government to “play a leading role in setting ambitious targets to address climate change” at Copenhagen. Especially in Europe, Canada and Australia.
Public concern about climate change is at its highest level since GlobeScan began international tracking in 1998. Nearly two thirds of those polled now say climate change is a “very serious” problem. However, concern has fallen in China and the USA. On the eve of the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, only six per cent of the 24,000 people polled want their government to oppose a climate deal being reached in Denmark.
However, the poll finds that public opinion in the world’s two largest emitters of CO2 is more ambivalent. While the Chinese are the most likely to support government investments to address climate change even if these harm the economy (with 89% in favour), only 52% of Americans feel the same way. Also, the percentage of American (45%) and Chinese citizens (57%) who see climate change as “very serious” is below the 23-country average of 64%.
Majorities in major European nations support their government playing a strong leadership role in Copenhagen—62% in the UK, 57% in France, and 55% in Germany. Other governments being pressed by their citizens to show leadership include Canada (61%), Australia (57%), Japan (57%), and Brazil (53%).
In comparison, Chinese opinion about Copenhagen favours a “moderate approach” involving “only gradual action” (49%) over a “leadership approach” (37%). In the United States, 36% favour a “moderate approach” and 14% oppose any agreement, outweighing the 46% of Americans who want their government to show leadership.
The results are drawn from a survey of 24,071 adult citizens in 23 countries, conducted by the international polling firm GlobeScan between 19 June and 13 October, 2009. For more information, see http://www.globescan.com/news_archives/bbc2009_climate_change/
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/60-of-citizens-support-government-action-on-climate/.
- John ElkingtonClimate Scoreboard - keep track of COP15
Here’s a clever idea. Sustainability Institute has launched the Climate Scoreboard, an online tool that allows anyone to track progress in the ongoing negotiations to produce an international climate treaty. The Scoreboard allows users to check, on a daily basis, whether proposals in the treaty process commit countries to enough greenhouse gas emissions reductions to achieve widely expressed goals, such as limiting future warming to 1.5 to 2.0°C (2.7° to 3.6°F) above pre-industrial temperatures.
The Scoreboard will follow the negotiations in Copenhagen from day to day, and continue tracking progress in the months following the conference, addressing the question: if current proposals for emissions reductions were implemented how much future warming would be avoided?
In advance of the opening of the Copenhagen Conference, the Scoreboard shows that, while current proposals would reduce warming in 2100 relative to a scenario with no reductions in emissions, proposals are not yet ambitious enough to limit temperature increase to 2°C (3.6°F) over pre-industrial temperatures. The Scoreboard estimates a temperature increase of 3.8°C (7.0°F) over pre-industrial if current proposals were implemented as compared to a 4.8°C (8.7°F) temperature increase by 2100 without emissions reductions.
The Scoreboard results are delivered as a widget that can be embedded in media reports, blogs, websites, and Facebook. I confess that I haven’t checked the guts of the analysis, but this seems like a truly great way to make COP15 accessible to the wider world.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/climate-scoreboard-keep-track-of-cop15/.
- John ElkingtonThe Road to Ecotopia
Spent the day at Cineforum’s ‘Road to Ecotopia’ event at the old St Luke’s office building, 22 Duke’s Road, just across the road from Euston Station. Much discussion of how to shift paradigms. With around 150 people, this was one of the most enjoyable events I have been to in a long time, organised by Jobeda Ali and James Parr of Fair Knowledge - and with the backing of organisations like Tomorrow’s Company, IDEO, SustainAbility and Volans. Alejandro (Litovsky) led an all-day session on the biosphere, which I helped launch - but then flitted from session to session as a ‘Honeybee’, my duty to cross-pollinate.
Among those kicking off the event were Bill Becker, of the US Presidential Climate Action Plan, and Hunter Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute. One of my favourite sessions was up in Nest 3, led by Louis Savy of Sci-Fi-London, which organises the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film. Also very struck by the visualization work of Jonathan Arnold - and by a session on China led by Andrew Leung.
The day ended with a session in which Hazel Henderson and Fritjof Capra beamed in from the US, with Hazel using the opportunity to launch a new Global Climate Prosperity Scoreboard, which tracks private investment in companies growing the green economy globally. “This new, never before reported number, showing $1,248,740,645,993.00 (over $1.248 trillion) in total investment since 2007, indicates how investors and entrepreneurs are leading governments in promoting sustainable growth,” she noted.
The scoreboard totals investments in solar, wind, geothermal, ocean/hydro, energy efficiency and storage, and agriculture. It purposefully omits nuclear, “clean coal,” carbon capture and sequestration, and biofuels. It indicates which investments have been publically announced and committed by major companies for 2010 and beyond.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/the-road-to-ecotopia/.
- John ElkingtonFT loves Room to Read - so do I
Reading the Financial Times in Vienna this morning, I was delighted to see the ‘Life & Arts’ section covering Room to Read in a major way. Googling, I then found that the FT, my favourite paper by far, has selected Room to Read, a social enterprise that helps millions of children gain access to education in developing countries, as its partner for its 2009-2010 seasonal appeal to readers.
The seasonal appeal, taking place from November to mid-January 2010, has raised over £2.3m in the past three years for organisations including Camfed and WaterAid. Chosen in a vote by 1600 Financial Times staff around the world, Room to Read aims to provide over 11,000 communities access to their first library by the end of 2010 and has a long-term goal of reaching 10 million children in the developing world by 2020.
Room to Read was launched in Nepal in 2000 and is now a global organisation with fund-raising operations in San Francisco, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong and program offices in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zambia. Partnering with local communities throughout the developing world, the organisation provides quality educational opportunities to children with the least access.
It is estimated that over 300 million children around the world do not have access to education and most likely will never learn to read or write. Room to Read seeks to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education empowers people to improve socio-economic conditions for their families and communities – breaking the cycle of poverty.
Room to Read has developed four programmes to promote and enable global education:
- Reading Room Programme – establishes bilingual libraries filled with local language and children’s books, posters, maps and games that engage children in reading.
- Local Language Publishing Programme – works with local writers and illustrators to create and publish high-quality local language children’s books for Room to Read libraries.
- Girls’ Education Programme – funds long-term, holistic scholarships for underprivileged girls to ensure their ability to complete secondary school.
- School Room Programme – partners with villages to build new schools, replace dilapidated structures, or expand schools to alleviate overcrowded classrooms.
For more information about the FT’s seasonal appeal partnership with Room to Read, please visit: www.ft.com/appeal and www.roomtoread.org/FT.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/ft-loves-room-to-read-so-do-i/.
- John ElkingtonGoodGuide launches ‘Green Consumer’ ap
Over 20 years ago, we launched The Green Consumer Guide, which sold around a million copies, went into foreign language editions in around 20 countries, and helped consumers worldwide put pressure on business to clean up on the environmental front. Books, however, are old technology. So when I was on the Advisory Board of Physic Ventures for several years and first came across GoodGuide, my excitement was palpable - and I have since used the story in many public presentations to underscore how the global economy will move to radically different levels of transparency.
GoodGuide is an independent ‘B Corporation‘, a new type of company which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. And it has announced the first iPhone application that scans barcodes to provide impartial health, environment and social responsibility ratings of products and companies. The newest version of GoodGuide’s iPhone application, now available for free from Apple’s iTunes App Store, will make it easier and faster for consumers to find healthy and environmentally friendly products from socially responsible companies while standing in the aisle of a store. GoodGuide licensed Occipital’s state-of-the-art RedLaser barcode scanning technology for its new application.
GoodGuide’s new iPhone application can help consumers in the store with many common purchase decisions. For example, the application enables consumers to choose the healthier of two moisturizers, determine what’s in various all-purpose cleaners and learn whether organic product manufacturers have good social practices to go along with their healthy manufacturing processes. and it’s simple to do: simply scan a barcode in the supermarket aisle and immediately see detailed and independently researched ratings for health, environment and social responsibility for over 50,000 products and companies right on the phone.
In addition, by using the new version of GoodGuide’s iPhone application, consumers will be able to participate in picking the products to be rated next. GoodGuide will aggregate information about which products are scanned most frequently and use that information to prioritize the products that are rated by GoodGuide.
Dara O’Rourke, founder and CEO of GoodGuide, emphasized that the new iPhone application is another step in the initial stages of the company’s vision to make information about consumer products more transparent. “The iPhone application illustrates how we can provide consumers with critical product information when they need it the most - in the store,” he said. “The service will only get stronger over time as we add more and more product information based on our community’s input.”
The launch of GoodGuide’s new iPhone application follows GoodGuide’s closing in June of this year of $5.5 million in Series B financing. GoodGuide’s Series B financing was led by Physic Ventures, with the additional participation by New Island Capital and existing investors New Enterprise Associates and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. In connection with GoodGuide’s Series B financing, William Rosenzweig, Managing Director of Physic Ventures, has joined GoodGuide’s Board of Directors.
In the last year, GoodGuide has won numerous awards including being named the “Startup Most Likely to Make The World a Better Place” at the 2008 Crunchies, Top 100 Web Sites of 2009 by PC Magazine, and CNET’s Editor’s Choice for “Best Newcomer” in CNET 2009 Webware 100.
Sam adds: The future is bright, the future is Good. And watch this space for a review of GoodGuide user experience from Volans team members currently scampering around the London office scanning packets of cookies and, indeed, moisturinzing cream …
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/goodguide-launches-green-consumer-ap/.
- John ElkingtonMore Ashes Before Phoenix Can Rise?
In our 2009 report The Phoenix Economy, we argued that the ‘recession’ could well go much deeper - and last much longer - than most people believed. Not a popular line of thinking, but I was interested to see the following from D.K Matai of ATCA a few days back:
They will say, “Nobody saw it coming”. Who could have predicted it… It is worth noting that the 1932 stock market crash is deemed to be the worst in the 20th century and not the one in 1929. By mid-1930, the market was up 30% from the trough of the 1929 crash. However, by the summer of 1932, the Dow reached a low of just 11% of its high in 1929, or a loss of roughly 89%, trading more than 50% below the low it had reached on October 29th, 1929.
If one had $1000 on September 3rd 1929, it would have gone down to $108 by July 8th, 1932 — end of the worst crash — or an 89.2% loss. To recover from such a loss, one would have to watch one’s portfolio go up by 825%! All this happened despite assurances from prominent government and business leaders of-the-time that the worst was behind.
Here is a news headline that may sound familiar:
- September 1929: “There is no cause to worry. The high tide of prosperity will continue.” - Andrew W Mellon, US Secretary of the Treasury
After the stock market crash in October 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) partially recovered in November-December 1929 and early 1930.
Reassuring headlines such as the following became increasingly common:
- May 1, 1930: “I am convinced we have now passed the worst and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States – that is, prosperity!” – US President Hoover
- August 29, 1930: “American labour may now look to the future with confidence.” – James J Davis, US Secretary of Labour
- October 16, 1930: “Looking to the future I see in the further acceleration of science continuous jobs for our workers. Science will cure unemployment.” – Charles M Schwab.
On July 8th, 1932 the Dow reached its lowest level of the 20th century and did not return to pre-1929 levels until 23rd November, 1954. The full impact was not felt until the next year. By 1933, the Great Depression was very real and it would take more than 22 years before the market would regain what had been lost.
So severe was the impact of the 1929-1932 crash, that by spring of 1933, when President Roosevelt (FDR) took the oath of office, unemployment in the US had risen from 8 to 15 million — roughly 1/3rd of the non-farm workforce — and the GDP had decreased by more than 45% from $103.8 billion to $55.7 billion.
Although the depression was worldwide, no other country except Germany reached so high a percentage of unemployment as the US. The poor were hit the hardest. By 1932, New York’s Harlem district had an unemployment rate of 50% and property owned or managed by African Americans fell from 30% to 5% in 1935. Farmers in the Midwest were doubly hit by economic downturns and the Dust Bowl. Schools, with budgets shrinking, shortened both the school day and the school year. The breadth and depth of the crisis made it the Great Depression.
FDR, after assuming the presidency, promoted a wide variety of federally funded programs aimed at restoring the American economy, helping relieve the suffering of the unemployed, and reforming the system so that such a severe crisis could never happen again. After the crash in 1932:
1. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established;
2. The US Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act mandating a separation between commercial banks, which take deposits and extend loans, and investment banks, which underwrite, issue, and distribute stocks, bonds and other securities;
3. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was established to insure individual bank accounts for up to $100,000; and
4. The Works Projects Administration (WPA), the largest New Deal agency, was set up employing millions to carry out public works projects.
However, while FDR’s New Deal did help restore the GDP to its 1929 level and did introduce basic banking and welfare reforms, FDR refused to run up the government deficits that ending the depression required. Only when the federal government imposed rationing, recruited 6 million defence workers (including women and African Americans), drafted 6 million soldiers, and ran massive deficits to fight World War II did the Great Depression finally end.
The extent of the economic devastation of the 1930s went far beyond the imagination of anyone in the financial markets or governments across the world.
Having studied a fair amount of history over the years, I am aware that it rarely repeats itself - but, as someone once put it, by God it rhymes! So anyone who thinks that we are now free of the downturn would be well advised to take a look at what happened last time around - and keep a very close eye on the market runes.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/more-ashes-before-phoenix-can-rise/.
- John ElkingtonWEF Calls for Revolution
The world has reached a tipping point in the fight against climate change, but leaders are optimistic that incremental victories will ensure the battle is ultimately won. Countries, internal states and companies are increasingly implementing low-carbon initiatives with measurable impact as talks to agree on a global climate framework in Copenhagen continue.
According to leaders at the World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai, public-private partnerships and financing are key to expanding the number of low-carbon projects that are making use of the enabling technologies and policies already in place. Over 80 business leaders and 40 environmental and scientific experts from around the world outlined a plan for stimulating a “clean revolution” in the private sector within the next few years even as governments continue negotiations on a climate policy framework in the United Nation
Despite the many climate initiatives out there, “not much is happening to reward them but we hope that through the World Economic Forum and its Global Agenda Councils, there will be a new voice in favour of action and providing rewards for action, as well as an agreement in Copenhagen,” said Pavan Sukhdev, Study Leader, TEEB and Project Leader, Green Economy, United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), Cambridge, and Chair of the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Ecosystems & Biodiversity Loss.
“We are losing this living fabric at a rate that is alarming,” Sukhdev warned.
Japan, India and China have moved dramatically to reduce emissions, according to Steve Howard, Chief Executive Officer, Climate Group, United Kingdom, and Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Climate Change. “In four months, China put in as much wind power capacity as the UK did in the past 20 years,” he said, adding that “the Prime Minister of India wants the country to fight for a global deal.”
“We have cut deforestation from 27,000 square kilometres to 7,000 square kilometres, which is the lowest reduction achieved in Brazil,” said Carlos Eduardo de Souza Braga, Governor of Amazonas, Brazil. While he remains optimistic about the Copenhagen process, a deal with any chance of success must focus on empowering communities. “If you’re going to create a new mechanism, we must create a mechanism to get funding to communities like those in the Amazon, and create policies to give them health, education and knowledge for sustainable products,” he said.
Caio Koch-Weser, Vice-Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group, Deutsche Bank, United Kingdom, a Member of the Global Agenda Council on Climate Change, raised his concern that despite being a few weeks away from global climate talks in Copenhagen, “we don’t see a framework coming into place.” He said the role of the World Economic Forum is critical “because it tasks all of us to urge action but also to lend momentum by coming up with public-private partnerships that are implementable and scalable once an agreement is in place.” Koch-Weser agreed that low-carbon projects should continue to be unveiled and expanded, and called for leaders due to gather in Copenhagen to create a 100 billion euro fund to finance the low-carbon economy of the future.
Note: The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Councils were created to further the Forum’s mission and strategic vision. They are multistakeholder groups of the world’s most innovative and relevant experts, established to advance knowledge and collaboratively explore actions on the most important issues in the global arena. For further information on the councils, please visit Network of Global Agenda Councils. Their work also contributes to the Global Redesign Initiative.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/wef-calls-for-revolution/.
- John ElkingtonShifting Paradigms
Perhaps the biggest single task facing our species is to shift our prevailing paradigms, something that happens rarely, that typically triggers social, political and economic convulsions over protracted periods, and that reorders our mental landscapes in ways that were far from obvious to the change agents who started the process.
As the concept of sustainability increasingly goes mainstream, we face multiple new challenges. The first, though, is simply a scaling of what feels like an age-old challenge - that many new entrants to the discussion will seek to define sustainability in ways that suit their own priorities and vested interests. Second, we have the problem that the climate agenda is tending to drown out many other elements of the agenda. Third, as the centre of gravity of the global economy shifts east, it is very clear indeed that countries like India, Indonesia and China will have a different take on all of this. Fourth, and by no means finally, there is the fundamental problem that no amount of tinkering is going to produce change at the scale and pace we need unless we also change the overarching paradigm within which governments, capitalism, economics, accounting and investment operate.
So how do we shift paradigms?
Few books, if any, have had quite the impact on my own thinking as The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, written by Thomas Kuhn. I first read the book in 1968 - and it literally changed the way I saw the world. But it wasn’t a cookbook, offering recipes on how to change prevailing paradigms. We are going to have to work out how to do this experimentally.
My own view is that what I have called the ‘Cornucopian’ Paradigm began to shift in the 1960s, first with the work of people like Rachel Carson and the emergence of the global environmental movement, and second with the publication of the first images of Earth and of Earthrise, seen from space. That’s one reason why I was so thrilled that we managed to attract astronaut and cosmonaut Jerry Linenger to the Volans Advisory Board.
Meanwhile, we can debate what the new Paradigm might be called, but for the sake of argument I have talked about the ‘Gaian’ Paradigm. Part of my personal mission over the next five years or so is to talk to some of the people worldwide who are putting in place some of the key building blocks of the new order, both to learn from them and to work out how we at Volans and SustainAbility best support them.
At Volans, we signed a contract this week with a fascinating new foundation that will now support our ‘Pathways to Scale’ work in the field of ecosystem services, with more on that shortly.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/shifting-paradigms/.
- John ElkingtonNew Report on Economics of Water Scarcity
On 23 November 2009, the 2030 Water Resources Group is launching a new report that shows that, by 2030, one-third of the world’s population could have access to only half the water they need. For the first time, it will show how future demand for water can be met through cost-effective measures using existing technologies. The report provides greater clarity on the scale of the water challenge and the cost of the solutions, and offers a fact-based tool to help all stakeholders make informed investment decisions and guide policy discussions.
The 2030 Water Resources Group was formed in 2008 to contribute new insights to the critical issue of water scarcity. Members include McKinsey & Company, the IFC, part of the World Bank Group, and a consortium of business partners: The Barilla Group, The Coca Cola Company, Nestlé SA, New Holland Agriculture, SABMiller plc, Standard Chartered and Syngenta AG. Follow the live webcast here and visit the linked events page here.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/new-report-on-economics-of-water-scarcity/.
- John ElkingtonIndia’s Competitiveness Stunted By Gender Gap
The World Economic Forum’s India Gender Gap Review released at the India Economic Summit examines inequalities between women and men. Leaders at the meeting are discussing the factors responsible for the size of India’s gender gap, which, according the Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2009, sees it ranked 114th out of 134 countries measured.
“Girls and women make up one half of the world’s population and without their engagement, empowerment and contribution, we cannot hope to achieve a rapid economic recovery nor effectively tackle global challenges such as climate change, food security and conflict,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum. “The Forum works year-round with leaders on ways to close gender gaps through its Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme.”
The India Gender Gap Review presents the results of a comprehensive survey assessing the current state of gender-related corporate policies and practices in India.
Only 14% of the companies questioned have 40% or more women among their employees. These women employees are mainly present at the entry and middle levels of management, while very few women attain senior management level. Most companies do not track salary gaps, despite the clear wage gaps between women and men – only 4% of the companies surveyed are attempting to monitor salary gaps.
“Women, as half of the human capital of India, will need to be more efficiently integrated into the economy in order to boost India’s long-term competitive potential. The World Economic Forum’s survey of some of the biggest companies in India shows that, to achieve this integration, Indian companies will need to set targets, improve policies to close salary gaps and promote work-life balance,” said Saadia Zahidi, Co-author of the Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2009 and Head of the Forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme.
India has closed 93% of its health gender gap, 84% of its education gap, 41% of its economic participation gap and 27% of the political empowerment gender gap according to The Global Gender Gap Report 2009.
India holds last place among the BRIC countries on the Index, behind Russia (51), China (60) and Brazil (82). In South Asia, the sub-continent is in second-to-last place behind Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and ahead of Pakistan. Sri Lanka leads in the rankings by far, holding 16th position, followed by Bangladesh (94), Maldives (100), Nepal (110), India (114) and Pakistan (132).
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/indias-competitiveness-stunted-by-gender-gap/.
- John ElkingtonCleantech Sector Concludes COP15 Doesn’t Matter
The outcome of the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP15) next month in Copenhagen isn’t expected to be meaningful for the cleantech sector in the near term, according to a new report. ”The most meaningful climate initiatives of late driving cleantech innovation have been driven at the level of the G20, the U.S.-led MEF and the G2 (China and America). The center of gravity is not the bureaucratic UNFCCC,” said Cleantech Group executive editor Dallas Kachan.
The report includes an analysis of leading countries’ negotiating positions and recommendations on what needs to happen to make a climate accord truly meaningful. It asserts that private funds will flow in 2010 regardless of whether an agreement is reached and that, in the short term, government stimulus funds are expected to continue to shape the markets in positive and negative ways. It also suggests an agreement at Copenhagen will be thwarted by America’s lack of ability to make meaningful climate change progress domestically thus far, and possibly by brinksmanship by China.
The authors conclude that industry leaders shouldn’t be watching COP15 for an agreement to accelerate demand for cleantech products and services, predicting that history will show it as yet another milestone on the road to an agreement. Instead, the conference will help to drive global awareness, which is expected to drive broader demand.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/cleantech-sector-concludes-cop15-doesnt-matter/.
- John ElkingtonIndian Social Entrepreneurs Spotlighted
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has selected three social enterprises with significant impact in India as winners of the India Social Entrepreneurs Award for 2009: Rajendra Joshi, Managing Trustee, Saath; Brij Kothari, Director, PlanetRead; and Padmanabha and Rama Rao, Co-Directors, RIVER.
This is the fifth edition of the award, which has been given annually since 2005 to individuals that have founded organizations or companies that do not maximize profits, but benefit society or the environment. Previous winners, which have been included in the Schwab Foundation’s global network of the world’s 150 leading social entrepreneurs, include Vikram Akula, SKS Microfinance (2006), Harish Hande, SELCO (2007) and Arbind Singh (2008). For the first time since the beginning of the competition in 2005, the Foundation Board has decided not to pick just one winner in a country, but three. The Board thus acknowledged that India is home to a significant number of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs.
The three winners are:
Rajendra Joshi, Saath, Ahmedabad
Today, more than 60 million people live in slums across India, lacking access to healthcare, education, employment and housing. In 1989, Rajendra Joshi developed Saath, which uses public-private partnerships to improve the lives of over 40,000 people per year. In 2009, Saath’s employment programmes with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation placed 8,000 slum residents in jobs at firms like Tata Indicom and Kotak Mahindra. Its Slum Networking Program has improved the physical infrastructure of 6,000 households while its four Urban Resource Centers in Ahmedabad have given 22,000 slum households access to microfinance accounts, insurance packages, preventive and natal healthcare, and pre-school education.
Brij Kothari, PlanetRead, Mumbai
Two hundred million Indians remain functionally illiterate despite having completed Class V education. Brij Kothari’s organization, PlanetRead, uses Same Language Subtitling, or SLS, to improve Indians’ reading abilities. Subtitles are inserted for popular Bollywood songs, and broadcasted in eight major languages on Doordarshan’s network. Reading practice thus becomes a by-product of entertainment already consumed by audiences. Research by IIM (Ahmedabad) has shown that regular exposure to SLS increases the percentage of children who become good readers after having received five years of primary schooling from 25% to 56%.
Padmanabha and Rama Rao, RIVER, Andhra Pradesh
Teachers in India’s 1.1 million single-teacher schools lack the appropriate methodologies, curricula and support systems to educate their students. RIVER’s education model helps teachers adapt to these challenges. Government curricula are adapted for local context, and divided into smaller modules so learning is aligned with each student’s ability. Local accountability chains are established between teachers, parents and government. RIVER’s success in improving the quality of primary education has led to its replication in over 75,000 schools as part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, reaching eight million children across India per year
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/indian-social-entrepreneurs-spotlighted/.
- John ElkingtonFirst Movers Program
Here’s a program linked to the social intrapreneurship theme we explored as part of the Skoll Program in our report The Social Intrapreneur. The Aspen Institute’s First Movers Fellowship serves as an innovation lab for exceptional individuals in business today who are implementing breakthrough strategies to create profitable business growth and positive social change.
The definition is as follows:
First Mover [noun]:
A social intrapreneur; works inside business systems to achieve social change.
Telling characteristics include: fearlessness, boldness, mental agility and receptivity to new ideas.Over the course of a year, Fellows participate in three seminars built around core themes: reflection, innovation and leadership. Working with each other, and with a team of mentors inside their organization, they will learn how to convert a compelling hypothesis about a new idea they want to implement into new products, services, processes and business models. The program will also provide them with the skills they need to lead change within their organizations.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/first-movers-program/.
- John ElkingtonLester Brown’s Three Models of Social Change
One of the most thoughtful people in various of the fields Volans engages is Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. They are circulating byte-sized extracts from his latest book, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (W.W. Norton & Company, 2009). One struck me as particularly interesting in relation to our work. He speaks of three models of social change: the Pearl Harbor model; the Berlin Wall model; and the sandwich model.
Extract begins: Can we change fast enough? When thinking about the enormous need for social change as we attempt to move the world economy onto a sustainable path, I find it useful to look at various models of change. Three stand out. One is the catastrophic event model, which I call the Pearl Harbor model, where a dramatic event fundamentally changes how we think and behave. The second model is one where a society reaches a tipping point on a particular issue often after an extended period of gradual change in thinking and attitudes. This I call the Berlin Wall model. The third is the sandwich model of social change, where there is a strong grassroots movement pushing for change on a particular issue that is fully supported by strong political leadership at the top.
The surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was a dramatic wakeup call. It totally changed how Americans thought about the war. If the American people had been asked on December 6th whether the country should enter World War II, probably 95 percent would have said no. By Monday morning, December 8th, perhaps 95 percent would have said yes.
The weakness of the Pearl Harbor model is that if we have to wait for a catastrophic event to change our behavior, it might be too late. It could lead to stresses that would themselves lead to social collapse. When scientists are asked to identify a possible “Pearl Harbor” scenario on the climate front, they frequently point to the possible breakup of the West Antarctic ice sheet. Relatively small blocks of it have been breaking off for more than a decade now, but huge parts of the sheet could break off, sliding into the ocean.
It is conceivable that this breakup could raise sea level a frightening two or three feet within a matter of years. Unfortunately, if we reach this point it may be too late to cut carbon emissions fast enough to save the remainder of the West Antarctic ice sheet or the Greenland ice sheet, whose melting is also accelerating. This is not the model we want to follow for social change on climate.
The Berlin Wall model is of interest because the wall’s dismantling 20 years ago, in November 1989, was a visual manifestation of a much more fundamental social change. At some point, the people living in Eastern Europe, buoyed by changes in Moscow, had rejected the great “socialist experiment” with its one-party political system and centrally planned economy. Although it was not anticipated, Eastern Europe experienced a political revolution, an essentially bloodless revolution, that changed the form of government in every country in the region. It had reached a tipping point, but it was not expected. You can search the political science journals of the 1980s in vain for an article warning that Eastern Europe was on the verge of a political revolution. In Washington the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) “had no idea in January 1989 that a tidal wave of history was about to break upon us,” reflected Robert Gates, formerly with the CIA and now U.S. Secretary of Defense, in a 1996 interview.
Many social changes occur when societies reach tipping points or cross key thresholds. Once that happens, change comes rapidly and often unpredictably. One of the best known U.S. tipping points is the growing opposition to smoking that took place during the last half of the twentieth century. This anti-smoking movement was fueled by a steady flow of information on the health-damaging effects of smoking, a process that began with the Surgeon General’s first report in 1964 on smoking and health. The tipping point came when this information flow finally overcame the heavily funded disinformation campaign funded by the tobacco industry.
Published almost every year, the Surgeon General’s report both drew attention to what was being learned about the effect of smoking on health and spawned countless new research projects on this relationship. There were times in the 1980s and 1990s when it seemed every few weeks another study was being released that had analyzed and documented one health effect or another associated with smoking. Eventually smoking was linked to more than 15 forms of cancer and to heart disease and strokes. As public awareness of the damaging effects of smoking on health accumulated, various measures were adopted that banned smoking on planes and in offices, restaurants, and other public places. As a result of these collective changes, cigarette smoking per person peaked around 1970 and began a long-term decline that continues today.
One of the defining events in this social shift came when the tobacco industry agreed to compensate state governments for past Medicare costs of treating smoking victims. More recently, in June 2009 Congress passed by an overwhelming margin and President Obama signed a bill that gave the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products, including advertising. It opened a new chapter in the effort to reduce the health toll from smoking.
The sandwich model of social change is in many ways the most attractive one, partly because it brings a potential for rapid change. As of late 2009, the strong grassroots interest in cutting carbon emissions and developing renewable sources of energy is merging with the interests of President Obama and his administration. One result is a near de facto moratorium on building new coal plants.
There are many signs that the United States may be moving toward a tipping point on climate, much as it did on civil rights in the 1960s. Though some of the indicators also reflect the economic downturn, it now seems likely that carbon emissions in the United States peaked in 2007 and have begun what will be a long-term decline. The burning of coal and oil, the principal sources of carbon emissions, may be declining. And with the cars to be scrapped in 2009 likely to exceed sales, the U.S. automobile fleet size may have peaked and begun to shrink.
The shift to more fuel-efficient cars over the last two years, spurred in part by higher gasoline prices, was strongly reinforced by the new automobile fuel efficiency standards and by rescue package pressures on the automobile companies to improve fuel efficiency. The combination of much more demanding automobile efficiency standards, a dramatic restoration of funding for public transit, and an encouraging shift not only to more fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrid cars but also to both plug-in hybrids and electric cars could dramatically reduce gasoline sales. The U.S. Department of Energy in past years had projected substantial growth in U.S. oil consumption, but it has recently revised this downward. The question now is not will oil use decline, but how fast will it do so.
Shifts within the energy sector, with rapid growth in wind and solar energy while coal and oil are declining, also signal a basic shift in values, one that could eventually alter every sector of the economy. If so, this, combined with a national leadership that shares these emerging values, could lead to social and economic change on a scale and at a pace we cannot now easily imagine.
Of the three models of social change, relying on the Pearl Harbor model is by far the riskiest, because by the time a society-changing catastrophic event occurs, it may be too late. The Berlin Wall model works, despite the lack of government support, but it does take time. Some 40 years elapsed after the communist takeover of the governments of Eastern Europe before the spreading opposition became strong enough to overcome repressive regimes and switch to democratically elected governments. The ideal situation for rapid, historic progress occurs when mounting grassroots pressure for change merges with a national leadership committed to the same change. This may help explain why the world has such high hopes for the new U.S. leadership. Extract ends.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/lester-browns-three-models-of-social-change/.
- John ElkingtonFlying Through the Next 100 Years
As I flew back from Adelaide and Melbourne via Singapore yesterday and through the seemingly unending night, I read The Next 100 Years by George Friedman in its entirety. A stunning piece of work. One of the most provocative books I have read in a very long time - and I dived into it because of a recent project in which I was asked to think through what the world - and our agenda- would be like in 2097.
Another spur for my growing interest in demographics, gender-related trends and ageing. The stalling of China’s rise, the collapse of Russia and the collision between the USA, on the one hand, and Japan and Turkey, on the other, is dealt with persuasively. My only real quibble is the way the challenges of global warming and environmental change are almost dismissed out of hand on page 252, as likely to be addressed by demographic changes and new technologies. Highly recommended.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/flying-through-the-next-100-years/.
- John ElkingtonThe future is being written in California
Shortly after we included the State of California in our Phoenix 50, it ran into deep financial problems. But in choosing the Golden State, we were both following the voting patterns of the entrepreneurs we had polled - and basing our ultimate judgement on California’s extraordinary 160-year history. As I flew to Adelaide from Singapore last night, I was fascinated to read Michael Grunwald’s article ‘The End of California? Dream On!’ in the latest issue of Time. “In the depths of the breakdown,” says one interviewee, “you can see the next narrative.” And that’s pretty much what we were saying in The Phoenix Economy.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/the-future-is-being-written-in-california/.
- John ElkingtonHopenhagen
Travelling to Singapore and Australia this evening, so visas have been on my mind. No visa needed for Singapore - or to become a citizen of Hopenhagen, though, so I signed up to the latter last night. This is an international movement to drive action on climate change at the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen this December. The idea is that Hopenhagen will allow citizens to become active participants in the climate change dialogue and make their voices heard to world leaders and conference delegates attending the meeting. The ultimate call to action will be to secure signatures for the “Climate Change” petition in support of the UN, which calls for a climate treaty that is “ambitious, fair and effective in reducing emissions.”
Recognizing the tremendous role that communications will play leading up to and during the conference, the UN engaged the global advertising and media industry through the IAA to develop a comprehensive communications program to drive public awareness and generate action. Hopenhagen will complement the UN’s “Seal the Deal!” campaign.
For more information, or to sign up, go to http://www.hopenhagen.org/home
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/hopenhagen/.
- John ElkingtonReverse Innovation: GE aims to disrupt glocal capitalism
In the same way that Volans argues that mainstream business leaders have much to learn from social and environmental entrepreneurs, so the netrepreneurs need to keep track of the leading edge of mainstream business thinking. This simple thought was very much in my mind as I read the October issue of Harvard Business Review - and specifically the article ‘How GE is disrupting itself‘ by GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt and Professor Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
The key idea in the piece is that the period of glocalization - in which R&D and innovation done in the developed world was rolled out successively less developed markets - is being paralleled (and potentially overtaken) by a new trend of reverse innovation. In this new era, companies like GE will innovate wherever it makes sense to do so, for example in countries like China and India, and then roll the resulting products and services back into the developed world.
This fundamental sea-change holds huge potential for those who are seeking to help major companies connect with emerging market mindsets, solutions, business models and talent that are erupting in areas of the world that are outside the normal spotlight.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/reverse-innovation-ge-aims-to-disrupt-glocal-capitalism/.
- John ElkingtonSri Lankan Campaign for Peace & Justice gains momentum
Volans increasingly focuses on a 3-point agenda: ‘Cool’ (i.e. climate friendly), ‘Just’ (i.e. equity, human rights and access to the basic necessities of life) and ‘Open’ (i.e. transparency, accountability and a growing use of open source processes).
In relation to the second of these, we have increasingly lent our (admittedly limited) weight to organisations like the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. Normally, like B&HRRC, we don’t pursue a soapbox strategy, banging the drum on every latest issue. But there are moments, I believe, when history shows that a failure to protest human rights abuses led on to worse abuses on a much greater scale.
This was true of the treatment of many groups of people in Germany and the USSR ahead of WWII, for example. And with two emerging 21st century superpowers currently deeply involved in the Sri Lankan crisis, I believe that it is crucial that we signal international disapproval and rejection of what is happening there in the wake of the defeat of the Tamil Tigers.
To declare a personal interest, a long-standing friend and colleague is closely involved in the Sri Lankan Campaign for Peace & Justice. He has asked me to help spread the word - and I am glad to do so.
The latest news on the Campaign is that three leading US human rights advocates have joined forces to urge UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, President Obama and other world leaders to put an immediate end to what they see as an imminent humanitarian catastrophe in Sri Lanka. Professors Noam Chomsky, Rajan Menon and Michael Grodin are the latest prominent world figures to lend their support to the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice.
The three award-winning professors come from very different academic and professional backgrounds but are united in calling world leaders to act. Announcing his support, Dr Grodin said: “At the Nuremberg Trials following the Nazi Holocaust, Justice Robert Jackson exclaimed, ‘The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because it cannot survive their being repeated.’ These words echo and reverberate as we witness the crimes against humanity perpetrated in Sri Lanka.
According to Professor Menon: “Now is the time to settle the civil conflict in Sri Lanka, which has consumed thousands of life and brought severe misery to countless others. In the short term, access should be provided to the UN and international relief agencies to deal with the humanitarian problems facing refugees and lists of detainees should be made available. In the long run, economic development in the war torn areas must proceed hand in hand with political measures aimed at reconciliation and empowerment.”
Professor Chomsky added: “The fate of Tamils in Sri Lanka has been a shocking story of mounting horrors. It would be unconscionable to stand by in silence as the remnants face still more torture and disaster. Every effort must be expended to bring this tragedy to an end while there is still time.”
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group - who have all criticised the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in the past - have also called for immediate action to deal with the imminent crisis affecting at least 50,000 children.
The Sri Lanka Campaign is chaired by Edward Mortimer, journalist and former Communications Director to Kofi Annan. Other members of the Advisory Council include Lakhdar Brahimi (a former high level UN envoy and member of the Elders - an independent group of global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, to address difficult global challenges), Brahma Chellaney (a senior Indian foreign policy adviser), Charles Glass (the internationally renowned journalist) and Chibli Mallat (the Lebanese legal specialist) and Bianca Jagger, prominent human rights advocate, a member of the Executive Directors Leadership Council of Amnesty International USA, and a Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador).
The Campaign calls for the following:
1. The UN, international Red Cross and voluntary agencies must be given full and unrestricted access to care for and protect the civilians in the camps, and help them return to wherever in their own country they choose to live. Meanwhile, these civilians should have their right to freedom of movement restored in time to escape the devastation that the monsoon will otherwise bring.
2. A list of all those still alive and in custody (in internment camps or elsewhere) should be published, so that families can stop searching for loved ones who are dead.
3. Those who continue to be detained as alleged LTTE combatants must be treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, and urgently given access to legal representation.
4. Accountability processes must be established to ensure that international aid is not diverted to purposes other than those for which it was given.
5. The Sri Lankan Government should allow conflict reconciliation specialists unhindered access to help rebuild lives and communities.
6. Sri Lanka should request or accept a full UN investigation into war crimes committed by all parties during the war.
7. The UN Secretary General should appoint a Special Envoy to Sri Lanka.
For more information, please take a look here.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/sri-lankan-campaign-for-peace-justice-gains-momentum/.
- John ElkingtonThe top 10 countries in cleantech, 2009
Denmark tops a new list of cleantech-oriented countries. See here.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/the-top-10-countries-in-cleantech-2009/.
- John ElkingtonNominate Champions of the Earth
In 1989, Julia Hailes and I were elected to the UN Global 500 Roll of Honour, awarded for extraordinary environmental achievements - the highlight of which was meeting so many others around the world who had been spotlighted in the same way. Now, against a tight deadline, nominations are being invited for the successor scheme, Champions of the Earth. Any ideas?
The UNEP Champions of the Earth Award honors those who, through their visionary thinking, unwavering dedication and committed action, promote the sustainable use of the planet’s resources towards global green growth. (It’s interesting that when Julia and I founded SustainAbility in 1987, with early inputs from Tom Burke, our tag-line was ‘The Green Growth Company’, building on the work I had done for an early book called The Green Capitalists.
UNEP will select a laureate for each of the following categories: Policy Leadership, Science & Innovation, Entrepreneurial Vision, and Inspiration & Action. Each laureate will receive a $40,000 prize and a specially designed trophy at an Award Ceremony and Gala Dinner to be held on 22 April, 2010 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Nominations will be accepted until 31 October. For more information, please visit www.unep.org/champions.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/nominate-champions-of-the-earth/.
- John ElkingtonCan (this) man live by social entrepreneurship alone?
Is it possible to live for a month purchasing everything you need only from social enterprises? Alex Sobel, general manager of Social Enterprise Yorkshire and Humber, could be about to answer that question.
Sobel has posted a challenge on the blog of his social enterprise support organisation. If he gets 100 people to vote via his blog, and if the majority vote yes, he will spend a month purchasing exclusively from social enterprises. See here.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/can-this-man-live-by-social-entrepreneurship-alone/.
- John ElkingtonComment on Novartis in FT.online
I comment on the animal welfare campaign against Novartis and Daniel Vasella in today’s FT.online.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/comment-on-novartis-in-ftonline/.
- John ElkingtonAccess to Energy for the Base of the Pyramid
A new report on the theme from Ashoka and Hystra on theme here. Video here.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/access-to-energy-for-the-base-of-the-pyramid/.
- John ElkingtonLooking Forward to 2010 GRI Conference
Just in from Amsterdam, after several days with the Board of the Global Reporting Initiative - among other things sketching out a project which we hope to launch at their 2010 Conference on Sustainability and Transparency next May.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/looking-forward-to-2010-gri-conference/.
- John ElkingtonGuinness Fund offers €100,000 each to 25 Irish social enterprise projects
Social Entrepreneurs Ireland has announced that the Arthur Guinness Fund is now open for applications. The fund is seeking to find and support up to 25 Social Entrepreneurs over a two-year period within Ireland. Successful applicants will benefit from financial support (in the region of €100,000 per project) as well as practical support and advice. In addition, successful applicants will benefit from access to the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Alumni Network.
The Arthur Guinness Fund is a global initiative, created as part of the Guinness 250 celebration. In the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland it is investing up to €2.5m. The Fund will benefit Irish communities and is a fitting tribute to Arthur Guinness and his enduring, philanthropic legacy. The ethos of the Arthur Guinness Fund is ‘From one to many. Creating opportunities for communities’.
To apply and to find out more information on the Arthur Guinness Fund, please look here. If you have any questions email TheArthurGuinnessFundIrel@diageo.com. Closing date for receipt of applications is 31st October 2009. Applications will only be accepted via the Guinness.com website.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/guinness-fund-offers-e100000-each-to-25-irish-social-enterprise-projects/.
- John ElkingtonSocial entrepreneurs to be paid by results in Conservative UK
Social enterprises will be paid for successfully delivering public services without central or local government intervention in the event of a Conservative government after the next UK election, Oliver Letwin said on 7 October at a fringe event at the Conservative Party annual conference.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/social-entrepreneurs-to-be-paid-by-results-in-conservative-uk/.
- John ElkingtonBunker Roy critiques the Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are misguided - and likely to be achieved only on paper - says Bunker Roy, founder of India’s Barefoot College and a member of the Volans Advisory Board. In his Opinion piece in The New York Times, he argues that:
“Any goal that is driven from the top by international donors and governments not accountable to the communities and without financial transparency is doomed to fail. That model encourages colossal falsification of figures, the excessive hiring of private consultants and contractors, conflicts of interest and a massive patronage system.
“When poor communities think at the human level, all their goals are interconnected. But under the present top-down model, with the absence of a global grass-roots movement with the communities as equal partners, the goals have been broken up compartmentally into project mode, to suit donors and governments.”
And that, he says, is a recipe for failure.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/bunker-roy-critiques-the-millennium-development-goals/.
- John ElkingtonSocial Entrepreneur Stumps Up $35 Million Return Flight Fare
It is a couple of years since an X-Prize Foundation team came to visit us at SustainAbility’s London offices, but I already knew of them through magazines like Wired and Fast Company - and have since kept a fairly close eye on their doings. Still, they were brought forcefully back to mind when Alejandro (Litovsky) and I met people from Concordia 21 at Richard Branson’s HQ in Hammersmith a few months back - the walls were blazoned with an evolutionary tree beginning with Homo volans and topping out with SpaceShipOne (see above). See also July 6 entry here.
Branson is now helping to fund further work through Virgin Galactic, with a typically saucy picture of their Eve launch (’Mothership’) vehicle below.
A short, hyperlinked update on the latest Prizes developed by the X-Prize Foundation can be found here. Among other things, it talks about the $35 million fare paid by Cirque du Soleil billionaire Guy Laliberte for an almost-out-of-this-world experience, flying to the limits of Earth’s atmosphere. Given Laliberte’s origins as a social entrepreneur, there’s a neat set of connections here somewhere, but I’ll work on them later.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/the-35-million-return-flight-fare/.
- John ElkingtonHelp Google Invest $10 Million
Google’s ‘Project 10 to the 100′ has identified social entrepreneurship as one of the top 16 ideas that will change the world. Now they are asking you to vote to help them identify the biggest opportunity for change.
Here’s how Google explains the background:
Q: What is Project 10100? A: Project 10100 (pronounced “Project 10 to the 100th”) is a call for ideas to change the world, in the hope of helping as many people as possible.
Q: Why is Google doing this? A: The short answer is that we think helping people is a good thing, and empowering people to help others is an even better thing.Here’s the long answer.
Q: How many ideas are you funding? A: We have committed $10 million to fund up to five ideas selected by our advisory board.
Q. Why the name 10100? A: 10100 is another way of expressing the number “googol,” a one followed by one hundred zeroes. Our company’s very name expresses our goal of achieving great results through smart technology that starts small and scales dramatically over time to have a tremendous long-term impact. Project 10100 is a similar attempt to produce those kinds of scalable results by harnessing our users’ insights and creativity. We don’t know what ideas would help the most people. This project’s premise is that maybe you do.
If you believe in social entrepreneurship, Ashoka asks you to vote for the social entrepreneurship idea, or - failing that - vote for another of your favourite ideas. You may also nominate an organization who you feel is best placed to carry out the idea.
The categories Google is focusing on are:
- Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
- Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
- Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
- Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
- Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
- Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
- Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
- Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.
The criteria it is applying:
- Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
- Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
- Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
- Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
- Longevity: How long will the idea’s impact last?
Google will commit $10 million to organizations to implement the top 5 ideas (as nominated by the public and an advisory board.)
Voting closes on October 8, 2009.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/help-google-invest-10-million/.
- John ElkingtonLex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation Empowers Women
The New York Times Magazine recently featured a powerful article, ‘The Women’s Crusade’, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The article portrayed a sobering picture of the injustices faced by millions of disadvantaged women and girls around the world, including sex trafficking, servitude, maternal mortality, bride burning, female infanticide as well as a general lack of access to education and health care.
Kristof and WuDunn argued that focusing aid and investment on women and girls is the most effective way to fight poverty: “In many poor countries, the greatest unexploited resource isn’t oil fields or veins of gold; it is the women and girls who aren’t educated and never become a major presence in the formal economy. With education and with help starting businesses, [disadvantaged] women can earn money and support their countries as well as their families. They represent perhaps the best hope for fighting global poverty.” This view is increasingly being shared by governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and social entrepreneurs who are focusing their efforts and their dollars on women.
While painting a bleak picture of marginalized women around the world, the article also celebrates the incredible impact of organizations and social entrepreneurs that are working to empower and improve the lives of women and girls. The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, which Volans has included in its list of Trailblazers via Pamela Hartigan’s involvement in the Foundation, was delighted to see coverage in a related article of a number of organizations supported by Lex Mundi member firms through the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation. These include:
- Vital Voices – an international NGO that identifies, trains and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs, enabling them to create a better world;
- Mercy Corps – an international NGO with a mission to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities;
- CARE – a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty;
- Grameen Foundation – inspired by the work of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world’s poorest people;
- GlobalGiving – an online marketplace that enables individuals and companies to find and support high-impact, grassroots social and economic development projects;
- Ashoka – a global organization that identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs around the world; and
- Kiva – the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities around the globe.
Here are short profiles of two of the organizations supported by members of the Foundation:
Lex Mundi Member Firms Snell & Wilmer and Mayora & Mayora help Synergo Arts Maximize the Health and Prosperity of Artisans around the World
Artists and artisans in numerous cultures suffer from preventable injuries because they spend much of the day kneeling or sitting in difficult positions. Synergo Arts, the leading provider of resources in ergonomics education, consulting and design, helps communities of artists and artisans use ergonomics to prevent such injuries and in turn enhance their health, income, performance, productivity and the quality of their art or craft.
Synergo Arts was introduced to the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation by one of the Foundation’s partners, the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) at Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society. Since then, Lex Mundi member law firms have played an integral role in helping Synergo Arts become a nonprofit and continue to provide legal advice regarding the organization’s daily operations.
For more information about Synergo Arts, please visit www.synergoarts.org.
Lex Mundi Member Firms Help Kiva Empower Women and Marginalized Individuals around the World
As the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, Kiva enables individuals to lend directly to small business entrepreneurs around the globe. Through its micro-lending service, Kiva facilitates the empowerment of traditionally marginalized populations by increasing their access to capital – capital that is used to create economic independence and improve lives of individuals, families and communities. The majority of Kiva’s entrepreneurs are women. Since its founding in 2005, Kiva has grown into one of the world’s largest microfinance facilitators, connecting entrepreneurs with millions of dollars in loans from hundreds of thousands of lenders around the world.
Kiva was introduced to the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation by one of its partners, the Draper Richards Foundation. Over the last few years, Lex Mundi’s global network of law firms have supported Kiva’s work in over thirteen countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The pro bono legal services provided by Lex Mundi’s member firms have included advice on local laws regulating the transfer of capital into the jurisdiction, advice on local banking and tax laws governing microfinance institutions, and help in establishing legal partnerships with local microfinance institutions.
For more information about Kiva, visit www.kiva.org.
More on The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation
This is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliate of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms. (For more information about Lex Mundi, please visit www.lexmundi.com.) Utilizing the talents and resources of Lex Mundi’s powerful network of 160 top-tier commercial law firms in 100 countries around the globe, representing approximately 21,000 lawyers, the Foundation matches experienced lawyers who provide first-class legal services to social entrepreneurs on a pro bono basis, enabling them to carry out their missions of positive social change and to improve the lives of the poor and disenfranchised.
The Foundation defines social entrepreneurs as “transformative change makers”, individuals and organizations that use entrepreneurial and innovative ideas to improve communities and the lives of the poor and disenfranchised. Because Lex Mundi member firms are leading, full-service law firms, they have the experience and expertise to provide critically important assistance to social entrepreneurs, thus helping them become successful agents of positive social change.
The Foundation is a “matchmaker” and does not practice law. Rather, it identifies effective social entrepreneurs through referrals by its partners/collaborators. These organizations include the Skoll Foundation, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Acumen Fund, Draper Richards Foundation, Global Fund for Children, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Echoing Green and Mercy Corps. For a complete list of the Foundation’s collaborators, please visit http://www.lexmundiprobono.org/lexmundiprobono/Our_Collaborators.asp. The Foundation is constantly exploring additional collaborative relationships with potential partners that support innovative and entrepreneurial social change makers.
The Foundation is unique in that there is no other global organization that is focused exclusively on providing pro bono legal services to social entrepreneurs. The Foundation aspires to become one of the world’s premier pro bono legal service organizations and to reach many more social entrepreneurs. It is off to a great start and continues to build capacity and expand the volume, value and impact of the pro bono services provided.
To learn more about the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation and itsprojects, visit http://www.lexmundiprobono.org
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/lex-mundi-pro-bono-foundation-empowers-women/.
- John ElkingtonGlobal Impact Investing Network launched
I took part in the first London meeting of the embryonic Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) some time back. They just launched at the Clinton Global Initiative last Friday. The launch covered in this week’s Economist magazine, in a story titled ‘Financial Innovation and the Poor: A Place in Society.
Here’s what GIIN says by way of a self-introduction:
Who we are
The GIIN is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to building the infrastructure, activities, education, and research that will enable more effective impact investing around the world. Impact investing is the use of for-profit investment to create social and environmental impact. The GIIN and its partners address the systemic barriers that hinder the flow of capital to businesses that solve social and environmental problems.
Why the GIIN was created
There is simply not enough charitable and government capital to address the social and environmental challenges we face. For-profit investments can, and must, become a powerful tool for solving these challenges at a global level.
The impact investing industry has the potential to steer significant sums of money to market-based solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, but the industry stands at a delicate moment. Despite early success and momentum, inefficiencies have prevented impact investing capital from growing to the requisite scale of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Individual investors and service providers lack the capacity and mandate to solve structural challenges alone. The GIIN promotes the infrastructure, activities, education and research that will enable more effective impact investing. The GIIN helps identify both common strategic challenges and opportunities facing impact investors globally. By building a more a coherent impact investing industry, the GIIN helps leverage our capital markets towards improving the lives of the poor and creating a sustainable future for the planet.
Our programs
GIIN’s major programmatic initiatives are the Investors’ Council and the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards.
1. Investors’ Council: The GIIN Investors’ Council provides leadership in the industry, serves as a platform for disseminating the latest research and best practices, and supports the creation and adoption of industry infrastructure, including impact metrics. The Investors’ Council includes leading impact investors, including major global investment banks, institutional asset managers, family offices, pioneering impact investment funds, and private foundations.
The Investors’ Council also supports working groups focused on specific impact investing themes. The first working group is Project Terraqua, a group of investors who are focused on increasing investment in sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.
The 22 founding members have volunteered their time and energy in support of the GIIN over the past two years. Later this year, we will extend Investors’ Council membership to a broader set of active impact investors.
The founding members are:
- Acumen Fund
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Calvert Foundation
- Capricorn Investment Group
- Citigroup
- Deutsche Bank
- Equilibrium Capital
- Generation Investment Management
- Gray Ghost Ventures
- IGNIA
- J.P. Morgan
- Lundin for Africa
- Lunt Family Office (Armonia)
- Omidyar Network
- Prudential Financial
- The Rockefeller Foundation
- Root Capital
- Shorebank/NCIF
- Trans-Century
- Triodos Investment Management
- Wolfensohn & Company
2. Infrastructure Development (IRIS): The GIIN serves as a platform for coordinating the development of public goods that can benefit all impact investors. The first initiative in this area is the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), a common framework for measuring social and environmental impact of investments. IRIS addresses a major barrier to the growth of the impact investing industry—the lack of transparency and credibility in how funds define, track, and report on the social and environmental performance of their capital. IRIS provides a standardized approach that leads to lower transaction costs and an improved ability to understand the impact of investments.
The project has been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, B Lab, Acumen Fund, Deloitte, and PricewaterhouseCoopers and builds on prior work in the social impact assessment field. Version 1.0 of the IRIS taxonomy is currently being piloted by six partners (listed to the right).
An updated version of taxonomy will be released in early 2010, at which point we will be encouraging adoption by a broader group of investors and enterprises. For more information and to provide feedback on Version 1.0 please refer to iris-standards.org.
Our supporters
The GIIN has been launched with seed support from several leading institutions. The Rockefeller Foundation provided $2.5M over 2 years for operating support and for IRIS. The U.S. Agency for International Development provided $1.0M for IRIS and J.P. Morgan contributed $750,000 to support our work over the next 2 years. We have also benefited from support from our Investors’ Council founding members. These early contributions are allowing us to build our capacity, and we are seeking additional support for our mission.
The address for this blog entr