The helicopters have left, the blogs have been posted, and Pharrell Williams has proved a surprise hit, making many of us striving for decisive action on climate change very happy indeed. Left hanging in the Swiss mountain air around Davos, though, is the recognition that never has it been more critical for business to step up and proactively advocate for public policy that delivers positive change, in order to tackle an array of complex challenges, from climate change to social inequalities.
We’ve known for a while that business is a critical lever for change. At Forum for the Future we have developed a six-step change model to describe how significant change happens, which starts with experiencing the need for change and ends with mainstreaming a new normal, taking into account some diagnostics, innovation and scaling up along the way.
Business is critical for all these steps, particularly the innovation. But, so is government, which is essential for creating the policies that sustain a transition, and helping to achieve scale. One of the reasons we (business, government and civil society) have been so woefully ineffective at dealing with complex sustainable development challenges is that we haven’t paid enough attention to how change actually happens.
Increasingly, the line between the role of government and business is being blurred, however, and businesses are stepping into a vacuum left by government inaction. Here are some examples:
- Raising operating standards - In the US, we are working with Target and Walmart to help them work with the chemicals industry to accelerate a shift to sustainable products (there is no Reach);
- Scaling public health solutions– Unilever’s partnership with Indonesian public health authorities to promote basic sanitation;
- Providing access to nutrition– here in the UK, most retailers are now in schemes, Fareshare being one of the most well-known, to redistribute fit for consumption food to social enterprises;
- Access to education– Sky’s Academy is giving young people the knowledge, skills and self-belief they need to kick-start their careers.
For many leading businesses, simply focusing on direct impacts isn’t enough. They recognise that their responsibilities go way beyond the direct boundaries of their business. They also recognise that doing less bad isn’t sufficient, that they need to make a net positive impact. We are currently convening a group of leading businesses, with WWF UK and the Climate Group, working through the principles and the metrics underpinning net positive.
For many, the need to influence public policy is clear; for us at Forum, this is a necessary part of being what we would call a “system innovator”. Leading businesses aren’t just innovating core services and products, but shifting their external context by tackling the bigger challenges, which not only shifts systems towards sustainability, but creates the conditions in which the business can succeed. Take B&Q and The Big Energy Vision , who along with a coalition of retailers and civil society organisations, is trying to address the demand side of energy use. They’re calling on people to save more, which in turn means they pay less, which should therefore encourage the market for energy efficient goods.
But of course, this is difficult terrain; accusations of greenwash, self-interest, rampant capitalism abound. And where’s the democratic mandate?
Which is why I offer four top tips to deliver effective public policy, and not PR posturing:
- Identify the key material issues for which you need supportive public policy. Don’t try to influence policies across a whole suite of impact areas, which will dilute your efforts and also point at a lack of authenticity. Target and Walmart sell millions of beauty care products to millions of Americans, the chemicals in them is a material issue.
- Don’t rely on trade associations. With a few notable exceptions, by their very nature, trade associations will lobby for the lowest common denominator position. Break free, establish a leadership group – this is what we did with the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and Tea 2030;
- Be consistent and transparent. It is critical that all parts of the business are communicating the same message. All too often we witness one part of the business vocalising one set of messages, which are distinctly at odds with what the legal team might be saying, (which leads me to)
- Learn how to navigate existing legal structures, and advocate for policies and structures that support sustainable business practice. EU Competition Law is not a natural friend of sustainable business coalitions, but it doesn’t need to be an excuse for inaction.
I still meet businesses who are surprised to learn that they have a role in influencing public policy, and indeed is a pre-requisite in many cases to achieving their sustainability goals. This is a critical area to get right. However, one aspect of the external landscape needs to shift if we are going to see transformative public policy, that delivers sustainable development, and that is the pursuit of economic growth at all costs. We need a better understanding that economic growth isn’t the only measure of success, which is why the rise of purposeful leadership from a new cohort of business CEOs is so critical.
This article first appeared in Business Green.