When business people and management scholars speak of sustainability, they most often refer to the idea of a triple bottom line for planet, people and profit – sustainability as the integration of ecological, social and economic goals or dimensions. The focus of research, just as the activities of “sustainability managers”, is on calculating and evaluating ecological and social sustainability. Carbon footprinting, lifecycle analysis, employee motivation and human capital as an asset – these topics are often driving sustainability debates in companies.… Read more
Infinite happiness
When discussing the growth issue, especially from the perspective of degrowth, one argument comes up regularly. This argument can be termed “infinite happiness” and it goes something like this: economic growth might be restrained or needs to be restrained for various reasons but surely no one wants to put an end to growth in creativity, quality of life, and happiness. This is then usually followed by the demand to provide a new indicator for societal well-being, going beyond GDP and including all sorts of hard-to-be-tangibles.… Read more
Why monetize sustainability?
When talking about corporate responsibility, the issue of measurement comes up after a while. And rightly so, because if you cannot measure it you can hardly formulate goals, develop programs for implementation and evaluate your success in achieving them. But what is measured? The answer is simple: money. Regardless if you are trying to measure your company’s ecological or societal impact, most of the times you end up with calculating in Euro, Dollar, Pound and other currencies.… Read more
Lessons from Gothenburg
After returning from the 6th Lifecycle Management Conference in Gothenburg, where I delivered one of the keynotes dedicated to “Sustainability Beyond Growth”, I noticed that some of the talks and topics really stuck with me. Especially two presentations remain notable. One was from Danone and their new tools for calculating their Carbon Footprint in the supply chain. With their yoghurts they can now see perfectly clear that the “original producers” aka “the cows” are responsible for most of it.… Read more
Degrowth capitalism — Oxymoron or blind spot?
In the persistent controversy over the necessity and possibility of ongoing economic growth for ecological sustainability and societal well-being, growth critics gather around Serge Latouche’s décroissance — degrowth. Being sort of a degrowth economist myself, I started to wonder about something you might wish to call “degrowth capitalism”. Having my disciplinary background in management science, it always appeared to me as a strange blind spot in the degrowth debate. The level of the firm is all too easily neglected, with the minor exceptions of social entrepreneurship.… Read more