After various world summits on sustainable development, we should take care not to mistake this single event for the greater symphony of change that it heralds. Like fleas on an elephant, we need to jump back and see the greater whole – the challenge of creating a sustainable world. However you want to define it, in the end, it comes down to our ability to endure. Those that understand how social and environmental drivers will be shaping the landscape over the coming decades will be better placed to survive. This episodes ventures ten predictions about how the future will be different. In the future:
- The number of banned substances will increase exponentially
- Forensic sustainability will emerge as a new professional discipline
- Governments and civil organisations will maintain and publicise corporate grey-lists
- Companies will employ sophisticated, real-time corporate stakeholder monitoring
- Every component of every product and service will be coded with sustainability tagging
- Companies will produce and utilise sustainability-intelligent technologies
- Companies will adopt and follow Generally Accepted Sustainability Practices (GASP)
- Companies will operate within a macro policy environment that embodies sustainability economics
- Companies will stretch their strategies to include consideration of future generations and ecosystems
- The power of the mind will be harnessed to achieve sustainability-kinesis effects