To celebrate its 15th anniversary, the GreenMoney Journal asked leaders in the realms of green business and socially responsible investing to forecast 15 years into the future. How green will our economy be in 2022? GreenMoney's anniversary issue features responses from Amy Domini of Domini Social Investments, Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm, futurist Hazel Henderson, and others.
Mindy Lubber.
Here, reprinted with permission, is a view from Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres, a leading coalition of investors, environmental groups, and other public-interest organizations working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of more than 50 institutional investors collectively managing $4 trillion in assets. (Tune in later this week for a perspective from Joan Bavaria, president of Trillium Asset Management Company.)
If past is prologue, then to forecast where businesses will be in tackling environmental protection, humane labor practices, biodiversity, water supply, and other sustainability challenges, we have to look back.
Fifteen years ago, when the GreenMoney Journal was launched, a relative handful of niche companies such as Ben & Jerry's, Timberland, and Tom's of Maine were integrating the social consciences of their founders and even, in some cases, their spiritual values, into the capitalist model. But these companies were far outside the mainstream of American corporate culture, throwbacks to the idealism of the 1960s, and represented a tiny fraction of American corporate power.
Indeed, for decades there had been strong and pervasive resistance in the corporate world to environmental responsibility, transparency, and sustainable business practices. Such corporate values were seen as the province of the "tree-hugger" fringe and the notion that this could ever change was widely dismissed as a pipe dream.
Fast-forward 15 years to a single week in May 2007. Citigroup, one of the world's largest financial conglomerates, announces that it will commit $50 billion over 10 years on investments and project financing to reduce global carbon emissions, including development of alternative energy and clean technologies. News Corp., one of the word's largest media companies, led by the ultraconservative Rupert Murdoch, announces that it will become carbon "neutral" by 2010. And IBM, the venerable computer giant, announces it is spending $1 billion to become more energy efficient across its global operations. All in a single week! In each case, these decisions were driven by bottom-line economics and a recognition that sustainability is a core business issue.
