What does COP21 and the push for greater environmental sustainability mean for business? The Sustainability Summit will bring together key thinkers, policymakers and business leaders, who will deliver strategies, ideas and solutions to decision makers, helping them to turn challenges into new opportunities and prepare for the future.
Over the past two centuries, global economic development has often come at the expense of our environment. Ice caps have melted, forests have been flattened, noxious fumes expelled and species wiped out, all in the name of a type of progress that threatens to be unsustainable. In late 2015 at COP21 in Paris governments made bold commitments to limit climate change, but there is still much more to be done if their aims are to be delivered, and the election of Donald Trump has cast doubts on US policy.
The issue of sustainability is a multifaceted one, and cannot be tackled by policy alone; international business must also rise to the challenge. But how can businesses evolve and develop their practices to improve their environmental footprint? Is it possible to make adjustments that have a net positive impact on revenue? And what are the challenges that multinational companies face in implementing such changes across borders?
In March 2016, The Economist Events’ Sustainability Summit in London offered an alarming prognosis: adapt or die. In 2017 we will be evaluating progress and the scalability of sustainability initiatives, while asking the crucial question: what does the Paris Agreement and the push for greater environmental sustainability mean for business? Bringing together leading critical thinkers, policymakers and business leaders, the Sustainability Summit will offer strategies, ideas and solutions to decision makers, helping them to turn challenges into new opportunities and prepare for the future.