A Compass for Just and Regenerative Business

ASBC is thrilled to share with you the attached report released today by Forum for the Future in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), developed with input and feedback from the American Sustainable Business Council. The report is a critically important vision for the future of sustainable business. The report is both inspirational and a roadmap for the course business needs to set to ensure the very survival of our planet and its inhabitants.

At this crucial juncture in human history, with a rapidly closing window of opportunity, if we are to create a world in which more than nine billion people will be able to live well, within planetary boundaries, business is critical to determine whether we’re to be successful in this transition. Tinkering around the edges won’t do – wide-reaching transformations of how we live and, crucially, how business operates, are required: from reinventing the capitalist model to building greater resilience and adaptive capacity. To unlock these changes at the pace required we need to shift the underlying paradigm of business to adopt a just and regenerative mindset, embedding this into a new way of decision-making.  Consistent with the values and priorities of ASBC, the attached report, ‘A Compass for Just and Regenerative Business,” makes the case for moving beyond extractive business models, defines what it means to adopt a ‘just and regenerative’ mindset and provides a new ‘Transformation Compass’ tool to support businesses in navigating change and putting theory into practice.  Substantial change is not only necessary, but possible.