Towards a sustainable economy: do instead of doom

13 mei 2009

Often discussions on the transition towards a sustainable economy have a gloomy starting point. “The end of times is near, the poles are melting, The Netherlands is about to disappear into the North Sea, consumption in China and India will cause problems, social inequality will ignite disasters”, etc. I believe doom scenarios will not result in solutions.

If only, because these kind of nightmares are not on the radar screen of the average consumer. How should one anticipate these horrors while shopping? Is one prepared to pay a premium price hoping that this purchase will then result in a small contribution to avoiding a disaster? What will be the contribution of the premium price to the bigger picture? Does it help when buying a energy saving lamp, a freezer, a vacation? Often the dilemmas are too complex and little is done to make the issues more clear. The statement contributed to the Dutch Member of Parliament Diederick Samson that a vegetarian in a Hummer is better for the environment than a meat eater in a Prius, is a great illustration of the complexity.

Business will also not be inspired by doom. We thank Al Gore and the likes for putting the environment more firmly on the agenda. But only the notion of competitive advantage and innovation will turn this agenda into action. Not one single company can be successful in the long run, if it doesn’t process more eco efficiently. Thus: delivering better products that have less environmental impact. Moreover the price level has to be competitive to that of “regular products”, otherwise the mass will not be seduced. Companies that do not accept this notion are simply unfit for the future. I say this without any doubt. Many Dutch companies, however, do recognise this challenge. Examples are Akzo Nobel’s ecopremium products and the Green flagships of Philips Electronics. One will also recognise the growth in sustainable products, such as “cradle-to cradle”-carpet, cars that run on biogas and micro finance.

Of course I will not naively claim that all change will just happen by itself. Pieter Winsemius rightly advocates new approaches of co-operation of citizens (as members of NGOs) and companies (See his Dutch contribution on the site Nationale Dialoog). Networks of citizens should challenge companies, he says. I agree, but of course this is also easier said than done.
How will those new approaches materialise in practice? Sometimes help is being offered, for example by the inclusion of sustainability in the Dutch Code of Corporate Governance. But even so the success of the networks will depend on vision, consistency and staying-power of all network partners. What has to be achieved, who is responsible for what, how do we measure success and what is a realistic deadline? Do the parties involved have the guts to overcome setbacks? Will the CEO come out of his “ivory tower”, do the consumer and the citizen speak the same language and does the NGO have sufficient patience? Success will be realised when the shared vision can be translated into action. Fear and doom are unlikely to be helpful in this process.

(A Dutch version of this blog is posted on de nationale dialoog.nl)

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