This book provides a clear, critical, and timely analysis of the state of corporate sustainability within the context of the climate crisis. It offers not only a substantive critique of the current efforts but also clarity about the changes needed and how to implement them.
The book goes beyond the more common debate on shareholder capitalism vs. stakeholder capitalism to explain the shortcomings of the current approach to sustainability in business, which the author describes as sustainability-as-usual. Using strategic design lenses, the author proposes a new model of awakened sustainability, which offers a transformational shift in corporate sustainability to ensure companies fairly and effectively address the climate crisis. The book presents the numerous changes needed in the environment in which companies operate to enable awakened sustainability and how these changes can be realized.
Grounded in the scientific community’s calls for urgent action on climate change, this groundbreaking text provides scholars with an evaluation of current and future trends in corporate sustainability. It connects the dots between the progress made in the last five decades and the opportunities entailed in the work on a regenerative and just vision for companies in this decade and beyond.
Author(s): Raz Godelnik
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 170
City: Cham
Preface
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Welcome to Business-As-Usual
Everything Has Changed and Nothing Has Changed
The Ideas that Have Shaped Business-As-Usual
The Mental Model of Business-As-Usual
References
2 The Evolution of Sustainability-as-Usual
The Rise of Corporate Responsibility
When Business Met Sustainability
From Sustainability to Sustainability-as-Usual
The Business Roundtable’s 2019 Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation as an Example of Shareholder Capitalism 2.0
Sustainability-as-Usual vs. Business-as-Usual
References
3 Sustainability Reporting: The Black Box
Introduction
The Evolution of SR
The Battle of the Standards
The Effectiveness of Sustainability Reporting
Looking Under the Hood, or, Why SR Is Not Working
Taking a Mechanical Rather Than a Biological Approach to Fixing SR
The Missing Context
It’s the Mental Model, Stupid
References
4 The Rise of the (Mc)Circular Economy
The Premise of the CE: Opportunities and Challenges
Three Approaches to the CE and Decoupling
The Missing Social Dimension
The CE as a Symbol of Sustainability-as-Usual
The Mc(Circular) Economy?
References
5 The Transformation Journey, or: Why Now?
Framing Transformation
Pre-2020
2020: A Pivotal Year
Three Potential Pathways for Transformation
When Vulnerabilities and Possibilities Become Clearer
References
6 The Vision: Awakened Sustainability
Backcasting
Developing a Vision
A New Mental Model: Sustainability first, NOW
Vision’s Content and Context
Completing the Puzzle: Awakened Sustainability
References
7 What Needs to Be True?
Condition #1: Law—A New Corporate Law, Redefining the Company’s Purpose and the Board’s Duties Around Sustainability
Condition #2: Social Norms—Defining Any Behavior That Does Not Support a Socially Just and Ecologically Sound Society as Unacceptable
Condition #3: Markets—Financial Carrots and Sticks Offered by the Financial Sector to Incentivize Sustainable Activities in Companies
Condition #4: Architecture—Establishing Sustainability at the Core of the Organizational Culture
References
8 Breaking on Through to the Other Side: How to Make Change Happen?
Changing the Mental Model
A Theory of Change: Step by Step
Connecting the Dots: Transformation Pathways and Awakened Sustainability
References
Index
