Our journey towards transformation can start with a simple bold step, taken within a single business…
Business as usual is dead. CSR offers only limited substance. Incremental change is not going deep enough, or fast enough. Leading organisations are leaving behind narrow perspectives of the past to develop new models for business success – with enterprises that are sustainable commercially, while adding value to society, regenerating natural capital, reducing risks and delivering a net positive impact, including long-term value and shared prosperity.
The new integrated model for sustainable business success is all about renewing entrepreneurialism: driven by meaningful purpose, embracing the UN SDGs, mindful of the opportunities and risks in meeting 21C challenges; optimising responsible growth within planetary and societal boundaries; developing highly relevant and regenerative circular business models, adding real value to people, society and planet; sustaining and enhancing human capital and natural resources that will be needed in the future; harnessing sustainable supply chain innovations; generating legitimate profits, long-term value and shared prosperity, while accounting for the true costs of doing business; resilient to shocks and able to thrive in the new economic landscape. All driven by courageous leadership – embracing systems thinking, working both to enable and be supported by a resilient and sustainable economic ecosystem.
At Earthshine, we help you find the new sweet spot at the intersection of innovation and sustainability solutions – developing capability and confidence to deliver transformative business solutions – while capturing holistic and commercial benefits.
Taking the next step, we might find the need to go beyond the efforts of individual businesses to drive radical transformation in our markets and economies.
New models are essential. We are nowhere near decoupling economic growth from ecological footprints – this ambition is still way out of reach. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done, only that we have to go much further, and develop more innovative and radical models for sustainable markets.
This requires a systems-wide approach to extend and proliferate new models for responsible growth – reconciling the desire for ‘good’ growth with the important sensibilities of de-growth – enabling a radical reduction in consumption, while generating sufficient levels of commercial activity, supporting jobs and livelihoods, along with shared prosperity.
At the heart of our model for market transformation, we bring together key stakeholders, and leverage all available resources, as part of coordinated strategy for a new way of doing business in any specific industry or sector.
This includes coordinated action plans to generate tipping points in markets and business behaviour: supported with enabling policy architecture, aligned with responsible business strategies, and with suitable bottom-up initiatives.
Our systems of economy and commerce are neglecting the planet, failing to create shared wealth, generating an ever-widening gap in our societies, and even stand accused of failing shareholders.
It’s time to develop new, fit-for-purpose economic systems to ensure we can thrive within planetary and societal limits, while generating long-term shared prosperity.
There is much hope: many of the solutions we need are already available. Earthshine has spent much of the last decade researching and codifying new systems and initiatives, which enable us to make the necessary shift towards a new, vibrant and sustainable economic operating system.
This level of transformation is also essential in creating the right conditions that allow complete sustainability transformations to occur – in business and in society – enabling us to realise our true potential and deliver a radical shift in performance.
Otherwise, our systems will continue to drive short-term and destructive behaviours – and we will not achieve the essential levels of circularity and sustainability our businesses and economies need.
Earthshine is currently involved in a range of projects that help amplify and share learning on the possibilities for economic and systemic transformation – towards enabling meaningful and informed choices we can all make – whether as business leaders, politicians, investors and engaged citizens – towards a sustainable economy.
The further we progress on our journey towards sustainable business and economy, the more fundamental are the challenges and constraints we encounter.
We may improve compliance, and optimise our eco-efficiency initiatives, but then find we need to address our business models and strategies, if we are to deliver more impact, more benefits.
We may go further still, and explore the need to drive the right behaviours and performance, that will enable our strategies to flourish. But there is one constant; one common denominator in all these processes, organisations, and systems – ‘people’.
And so, we reach the ultimate barrier – ourselves – where the only way forward is to go within, and change our internal world and rebuild our capabilities, so we can make fully-informed choices towards sustainable living, business and economy. Only then can we move forward to drive the changes that are truly necessary.
Earthshine offers a range of generic and customised programmes for shaping and supporting personal and societal transformations.