John Elkington’s Posts

• If the Issue Fits

  Biz magazines spotlight the sustainability revolution 3

  Posted 2 years, 7 months ago

  If the business press is any indication, sustainability issues have risen up the corporate ladder and are now seen as a central challenge for companies in the coming decades.

  

  In its first-ever green issue, Fortune commends "10 Green Giants" -- corporations that are making impressive environmental gains. The editors decided to bypass GE and Wal-Mart, whose eco-endeavors have been heavily publicized, and instead highlight companies whose sustainability efforts have been less high-profile recently -- among them, Hewlett-Packard, Continental Airlines, S.C. Johnson, Suncor, and Alcan. While its list focused on big,… Read More

• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

  Business leaders honed in on climate, carbon, and concrete at Davos 3

  Posted 2 years, 9 months ago

  

  The snow at Davos didn't melt away worries about climate change.

  Photo: Benjamin Zurbriggen/World Economic Forum

  
  

  There was something different in the air at this year's Davos gathering of global movers and shakers -- and not just an increase in CO2 concentration. Instead of the irrational exuberance of the 1990s or the celebrity-studded glitz of recent years, we found upbeat but serious discussion of big issues -- climate change in particular.

  A few days before the World Economic… Read More

• This Ring a Nobel?

  Social and environmental entrepreneurs have a lot to teach big business 1

  Posted 2 years, 10 months ago

  Solutions to sustainability challenges come in various forms, colors, and strengths. Some are compliance-driven and done grudgingly. Some are citizenship-led and done at a slight distance from an organization's core business. And some are truly innovative and entrepreneurial. Now this third category is on the verge of taking off like a rocket, involving new breeds of social and environmental entrepreneurs -- but also driven and encouraged by innovative, entrepreneurial folk in the business and government mainstreams.

  Much of the work that we do at SustainAbility aims to help corporations that aspire to behave -- and be recognized -- as good… Read More

• Third Time's the Charm

  Will the latest corporate sustainability reporting guidelines herald a brave new world? 0

  Posted 3 years ago

  What a swell party it was. The first week of October saw a crowd of 1,150 people from 65 countries rubbing shoulders in the Netherlands, including royalty (in the form of HRH the Prince of Orange), politicians (including former Vice President Al Gore and Margot Wallström, VP of the European Commission), titans of industry (like Gerard Kleisterlee, CEO of Royal Philips Electronics, and Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chair of Anglo American), and the heads of multilateral agencies (among them Achim Steiner, the new United Nations Environment Program executive director). What brought this motley crew together? The launch of "G3," the latest… Read More

• Citizen Hope

  Sustainability visionaries see room for hope in our worry-filled world 1

  Posted 3 years, 1 month ago

  Who's afraid of the big, bad future? Al Gore, clearly -- and pretty much anyone who has seen An Inconvenient Truth. While Gore's dissenters may argue that he cries wolf too often, no one who knows and understands the statistics used in the film can doubt that the Big Bad Wolf of climate change is at the door. The question is whether our economies are best built of straw, sticks, or bricks.

  

  He's getting closer ...

  Photo: iStockphoto

  These days there can be few Grist-folk who haven't seen --… Read More

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