我們只有一個地球,卻像是生活在1.75個地球上一樣。 更準確地說,人類目前使用自然資源的速度是地球生態(tài)系統(tǒng)再生能力的1.75倍。我們正在瘋狂地消耗著自然資本。 由此產(chǎn)生出的諸多問題在一些重要的報告中都有詳細地描述。我們可以把生態(tài)資源的過度使用看作財務(wù)上的過度支出,但兩者之間有一個顯著區(qū)別:金融債務(wù)總是能夠被抹去,而生態(tài)資源是我們從一個無法討價還價的系統(tǒng)中借來的。與此同時,社會壓力也在上升:實時、透明的數(shù)字化世界能夠凸顯出那些不公平或不道德的行為,并在一夜之間讓人聲譽掃地。 為獲得經(jīng)營許可,企業(yè)實現(xiàn)可持續(xù)發(fā)展的努力正在各個方面逐漸取得成效。但相對于嚴峻的現(xiàn)實依然不夠。戰(zhàn)略可持續(xù)性必須為任何懷有長遠抱負的企業(yè)提供指引,其價值主張必須是解決我們只有一個(而不是1.75個)地球的現(xiàn)實問題。 戰(zhàn)略可持續(xù)性的框架可以由一些簡單明了的問題來描述:我的企業(yè)能夠幫助人類在這個星球上取得成功嗎?我的供應(yīng)鏈是否有助于挽救氣候變化?我的公司是不是更多地以造福世界為目標? 如果你對這些問題的回答中有任何一個是否定的,那么你的市場就可能會萎縮。 雖然金融分析師一直在用少數(shù)幾個關(guān)鍵指標來評估公司的健康狀況,但現(xiàn)在圍繞“人類的資源安全和社會進步”兩條軸線來評估“一個地球”兼容性的指標也應(yīng)該被考慮進來。企業(yè)的業(yè)績越好,就越有可能保持增長、運營和資產(chǎn)的彈性、對員工的吸引力,以及較高的社會認可度。 生態(tài)足跡核算(由馬西斯領(lǐng)導的組織Global Footprint Network負責)能夠?qū)⑽镔|(zhì)需求與自然的再生進行比較,是評估“一個地球”兼容性的核心?;诼?lián)合國數(shù)據(jù)的評估顯示,人類從20世紀70年代初就開始面臨生態(tài)赤字,而且從那以后生態(tài)赤字幾乎每年都會變大。今年1月1日至7月29日,人類對生物資源的需求就超過了地球生態(tài)系統(tǒng)全年的再生能力。這使得7月29日成了今年的“地球生態(tài)超載日”,較2000年時提前了將近兩個月。 顯而易見:為了維護和平以及維持人類已經(jīng)取得的成就,人類需要逆轉(zhuǎn)這種趨勢,將每年“地球生態(tài)超載日”的日期推遲到12月31日或之后。這是我們實現(xiàn)“一個地球”繁榮發(fā)展的最低條件。而僅有的另一種選擇是陷入“一個地球”的困局:資源不安全性會導致整個經(jīng)濟遭到破壞和國家之間的對立,加劇不平等性。 好消息是,這種趨勢有可能被逆轉(zhuǎn)。“一個地球”兼容性不僅有可能實現(xiàn),而且是個戰(zhàn)略羅盤,將極大地提高企業(yè)獲得長期成功的機會。隨著生態(tài)赤字的影響越來越嚴重,習慣了舊模式中資源無限豐富的商品和服務(wù)市場必然會萎縮;與此同時,采用節(jié)約的商業(yè)模式并注意保護資源安全的公司將擴大市場。 當然,成功實現(xiàn)“一個地球”兼容性并非易事。但對其置之不理絕非明智選擇。 市場正在發(fā)生變化,環(huán)境和資源風險意識不斷增強。在過去五年中,世界經(jīng)濟論壇每年確定的全球五大風險都包括資源或環(huán)境威脅。當這些風險顯現(xiàn)出來時,以符合自然規(guī)律的實際情況為基礎(chǔ)來制定戰(zhàn)略的公司更有可能經(jīng)受住市場波動的風暴。 讓人類活動與地球再生的節(jié)奏恢復平衡是一種極大的設(shè)計挑戰(zhàn),需要有大膽的想象力、創(chuàng)造性的智慧,以及擺脫常規(guī)的自由冒險精神。我們已經(jīng)有兩個基本的“導航點”來指引這一冒險:尋求生物資源的彈性和安全,同時改善所有人的福祉。在能源、流動性、食品和農(nóng)業(yè)、城市規(guī)劃和發(fā)展、教育和婦女賦權(quán)等各個領(lǐng)域中,已經(jīng)有大量解決方案。 通過適當?shù)牟呗阅軌蜥尫殴こ倘瞬?、設(shè)計師和商業(yè)專家的才華,為市場帶來與“一個地球”背景相符合的技術(shù)、產(chǎn)品和服務(wù),這些都必將成為促進企業(yè)長期成功的因素。(財富中文網(wǎng)) 趙國華(Jean-Pascal Tricoire)是跨國電力公司施耐德電氣的首席執(zhí)行官兼董事長。馬西斯·瓦克納格爾是可持續(xù)發(fā)展組織Global Footprint Network的創(chuàng)始人和總裁。 譯者:艾倫 審校:夏林 |
We live on 1.75 Earths, yet we just have one. More precisely, humanity’s current demand on Earth is 1.75 times what our planet’s ecosystems regenerate each year. We are depleting our natural capital at a frantic pace. Symptoms are numerous and well-depicted in stark reports. Think of ecological overuse as you would financial overspending, but with a significant difference: Financial debt can always be wiped away, while ecological resources are borrowed from a system we cannot bargain with. Meanwhile, social pressures also are rising: Real-time transparency enabled by our digitized world can highlight unfair or unethical practices and ruin reputations overnight. Corporate sustainability efforts that show incremental improvements on all fronts in order to secure a license to operate can suffice no more. Strategic sustainability must become the compass of any business with long-term ambitions, with a value proposition that addresses our one-planet (rather than 1.75 planets) reality. Its framework is provided by these straightforward questions: Does my business help humanity succeed on this one planet? Is my supply chain helping remediate climate change? Does more of my company benefit the world? If any of your answers to these questions is no, your markets may shrivel. While financial analysts have used a handful of key metrics for assessing the health of companies, the time has come to also rely on metrics that evaluate one-planet compatibility along two axes: humanity’s resource security and social progress. The higher a business performs, the more likely it is to sustain growth, resiliency of operations and assets, desirability for employees, and high societal acceptance. Ecological Footprint accounting (conducted by Mathis’s organization, the Global Footprint Network) is central to evaluating one-planet compatibility. It allows for the comparison of material demand against nature’s regeneration. Those assessments, based on UN data, reveal that humanity started running an ecological deficit in the early 1970s and has been digging it deeper almost every year since. Between Jan. 1 and July 29 this year, humanity’s demand for biological resources exceeded what Earth’s ecosystems can renew in the entire year. This makes July 29 this year’s Earth Overshoot Day, almost two months earlier than it was in 2000. The implication is clear: To preserve peace and sustain human achievements, humanity needs to reverse the trend and push that date back to Dec. 31 and beyond. This is the minimum condition for one-planet prosperity. The only alternative is one-planet misery, where resource insecurity undermines whole economies and pits nation against nation, accelerating inequalities. The good news is that reversing the trend is possible. One-planet compatibility is not only within reach, but it is the strategic compass that will significantly enhance a business’s chance at long-term success. As the impacts of the ecological deficit grow worse, markets for goods and services that are steeped in the old paradigm of limitless resource abundance are bound to shrink; meanwhile, those companies whose frugal business models align with resource security will see their markets expand. Granted, successfully implementing one-planet compatibility is no easy feat. But inaction is not a viable option. The market is moving. Awareness of environmental and resource risks is growing. Over the last five years, the top five global risks identified each year by the World Economic Forum have included resource or environmental threats. Companies whose strategies are informed by those physical realities will have a much higher likelihood to withstand the storms of market volatility when those risks become manifest. Bringing human activity back in balance with the regenerative rhythm of the Earth is an outstanding design challenge that is going to require bold imagination, creative ingenuity, and free-spirited venturing off the beaten track. We already have two essential navigation points to guide us on that adventure: seeking biological resource resilience and security, while improving well-being for all. Solutions already abound in sectors as diverse as energy, mobility, food and farming, urban planning and development, education, and women’s empowerment. Through the appropriate strategy, the brilliance of engineering minds, designers, and business experts can be unleashed to bring to market the technologies, products, and services that are aligned with our one-planet context. These are the ones that are bound to enhance the long-term success of businesses. Jean-Pascal Tricoire is the CEO and chairman of the multinational electricity company Schneider Electric. Mathis Wackernagel is the founder and president of the sustainability organization Global Footprint Network. |