Geneva, 11 November 2020: By any standards, 2020 has been a year of attention-consuming news stories. 即使有大流行, unprecedented wildfires across huge swathes of the northern and southern hemispheres, and most recently the US elections, the debate about the future of capitalism has been playing out in the mainstream media, alongside questions about the conduct and responsibilities of companies in response to global issues such as inequality, climate change and public health.
Capitalism, and its consequences for society and the environment, are very much in the spotlight. Even committed capitalists are beginning to argue that capitalism, 以目前的形式, is unsustainable – socially, 环境, 和经济上. Yet capitalism’s core features of private enterprise and competitive markets are essential to addressing our greatest societal challenges and unleashing the transformations required to meet the Sustainable 发展 Goals (SDGs).
今天, as part of its work to update its 2050年正规博彩十大网站, the World Business Council for Sustainable 发展 (WBCSD) is releasing an issue brief advocating that now is the time for companies and investors to enter – 和铅 ——辩论, not just about why capitalism needs to change, but about how we go about transforming it.
这个问题很简单， Reinventing Capitalism: a transformation agenda, synthesizes the best available thinking on why capitalism needs to be reinvented if it is to create the conditions for 长期 business success, and the actions that business, investors and policymakers can take today to drive transformation.
WBCSD makes the case that the capitalism we need is one that rewards true value creation – not value extraction as today’s model does. 具体地说, this means that all social and environmental costs and benefits should be internalized and reflected in the relative price of goods and services, 在公司的利润中 & loss statements, costs of capital and market valuations.
WBCSD has long been committed to making more sustainable companies more successful. A reinvented capitalism focused on true value would lead to a world in which more companies innovate in ways that contribute to a flourishing society, capital markets properly value and reward inclusive, sustainable business practices and, 结果是, more capital is mobilized to deliver the SDGs and the transition to a 1.5°C的世界.
问题简述 argues that if we are to get to such a version of capitalism, we need to realign the 激励 that drive businesses’ and investors’ behavior, adopting new and better ways of measuring performance, and tackle failures at the market and institutional level that favor financial value extraction over true value creation. A reinvented model of capitalism that address these failures will be characterized by five features: stakeholder-oriented, impact-internalizing, 长期, regenerative and accountable.
Reinventing capitalism along the lines suggested in this issue brief will, 毫无疑问, 非常具有挑战性. It will require complementary action from businesses, investors and policymakers, with voluntary action from the private sector and changes to law and regulation going hand in hand. Business therefore has a critical role to play in shifting capitalism:
- “Walking the talk” – adapting and aligning business models, decision-making processes, govern-ance模型, 激励, 征税方法, 报酬, reporting and accounting with a vision of capitalism that pursues true value
- Leveraging its relationships with other stakeholders – from suppliers and customers to policymakers and civil society – to influence the norms and rules that shape capitalism as a whole.
为此目的, WBCSD worked with member companies and partners to identify a set of priority actions that business can take, linking these to corresponding policy and regulatory changes that companies can call for and need to support. 在接下来的几个月中, WBCSD will use the issue brief to guide collaboration between our members, 无论是首席执行官还是首席财务官, in pursuing both the business actions and policy recommendations proposed. WBCSD的 正规博彩十大网站 Program, in particular through its partnership with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), has a dedicated work program that will be focusing on this transformation agenda.
彼得不赞美, President and CEO of WBCSD, commented: “Capitalism’s core features of private enterprise and competitive markets are indispensable if we are to achieve the scale and speed of transformation needed to achieve our Vision of a world in which 9+ billion people can live well within planetary boundaries. But our success or failure in achieving our 2050年正规博彩十大网站 is likely to hinge to a significant degree on whether capitalism can be reinvented for the better, 而且是为了它自己好, during the next ten years. The reality is that this is not simply a social and environmental agenda – it is about creating the conditions for 长期 business success.”
Download the Issue Brief
这个问题很简单， developed in partnership with Volans and EY, is part of a series of interim outputs linked to WBCSD的 current refresh of its 2050年正规博彩十大网站, a landmark 2010 report that laid out a pathway to a world in which nine billion people are able to live well, within planetary boundaries, 到本世纪中叶. WBCSD is working together with 40 of its member companies to update this work and again provide business with a common agenda for action over the decade to come.
Over the past six months, the 2050年正规博彩十大网站 project has released a series of issue briefs to help companies navigate the challenges of responding to the socio-economic turmoil unleashed by COVID-19, whilst maintaining (and increasing) ambition on sustainable development goals. The outputs can be found via the links below.
- Building 长期 business resilience
- The consequences of COVID-19 for the decade ahead
- Macrotrends and disruptions shaping 2020-2030
- 洞察力s into innovations that could shape and transform the next decade
- Systems transformation in support of inclusive and sustainable growth for business
接触点
- 朱利安Hill-Landolt，展望2050主任
