The Next Great Transformation: Sustainable Enterprise

Abstract

The EABIS Conference in September 2007 in Barcelona presents the first opportunity to present the emerging issues from the Roundtable on Sustainable Enterprise (RSE) which has been meeting around the world involving representatives from business, government, NGOs, academia and others. The RSE is a multi-stakeholder learning forum bringing together a diverse group of people from business, government, non-governmental organisations and civil society; big and small; institutional and non-institutional. Enterprise, innovation and creativity, like conversation, caring and sharing, are part of what it means to be human, and we now need to reward these human characteristics more than ever before if we are to make the transition to a sustainable future on Earth. Two pressing issues need reconciling: the need for resourceful, innovative and creative communities that reward enterprise; and, the imperative for all enterprise to be environmentally light-footed and socially responsible. A sustainable enterprise economy includes private, public, civil society and social enterprise. It is based on the benefits of collectivism and wealth creation, whether organised publicly or privately and in a sustainable enterprise economy, individuals, communities and investors must all gain from the fruits of their labours. Bringing together the principles of sustainable development, which include eco-efficiency and social justice, with the principle of allowing enterprise and innovation to blossom provides the best possible milieu for a wholly new model of capitalism to be born out of the current wasteful and inequitable model of wealth creation.