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CLIMATE ROUNDTABLE - CHASING NEW IDEAS
Growth used to be a panacea, and it’s true that our current
growth model has served us very well; it has lifted millions
out of poverty, eradicated diseases and created a more
open, connected global society. But this model, built for
an era of cheap resources, fewer people and centralised
power structures, seems to have run out of steam. From
dwindling resources and a volatile climate to persistent
inequality and societal upheaval, the signs are clear:
we need to reinvent growth.
First, the new growth model must generate value for the
many, instead of for a small elite. That is not only for social
justice – the societies that thrive, and endure, tend to be
relatively equal ones. Second, we must stop sacrificing the
living standards of future generations to preserve today’s
wastefulness. And third, we must rebalance the relationship
between mankind and nature, so that prosperity need no
longer involve laying waste to the environment that ultimately
sustains us.
I believe that new ways of working together with non-
traditional partners will be key to taking all three of these
steps, by bringing in a wider range of stakeholders and
helping all involved to see a bigger, more sustainable,
longer-term and fairer picture. The main players in these
collaborations are likely to be business, society and
policymakers. For businesses, collaborations can bring
lower costs, greater value to customers, and strategic ways
to differentiate themselves from the crowd. For policymakers,
collaborations can help remove perverse incentives and
properly connect the complex interdependencies that can
make a nonsense of isolated laws and regulations. For NGOs
and other representatives of civil society, collaborations provide
an opportunity to have more impact, as well as to help partners
in business and government to rebuild trust with the people they
serve, and to look more readily to the long term. And everyone
involved can benefit by opening themselves up to those great
ideas that enter from unexpected places.
Success in collaboration also demands a new type of leader,
for whom boundaries between companies, industries, sectors
or countries are irrelevant. These are the women and men
who look farther and more widely than traditional leaders,
to identify new risks and opportunities and create unconven
tional partnerships. Just as the challenges we now face are
Reinventing growth
– the collaboration imperative
By Gabrielle Walker
Chief Scientist,
Xyntéo
