Presentation given to the Singapore Compact conference on September 26 2012. Enjoy, if that's the right word.

1. How do we make the change? From
sustainability incrementalism to
transformation…
Toby Webb, Founder, Ethical Corporation
and Stakeholder Intelligence, September 2012
Toby.webb@stakeholderintel.com / tobywebb.blogspot.com

2. What I’m going to talk about today
 What is needed for change from
business-as-usual on
sustainability? How do we shift from
“incrementalism” to “transformation”?
 How can policy makers and corporate
leaders make change happen?

3. What’s needed to change the current model
Government must combine “backbone” and
increased capacity
 Responsibility deals: Being a catalyst
 Keeping business, NGOs & others in the room
 Brokering deals that last, and deliver
 Confidence to stand up to selfish lobbying
 Develop national plans and goals: And stick to
them! (build business and social confidence)

4. Financial regulation MUST play a role
Investors must be made to describe, in quantitative terms, the
environmental & social characteristics of investment portfolios. E.G.
 The carbon footprint of their funds
 The numbers of deaths and injuries in the
companies in which they are invested
 The number of companies in which they invest
that have a significant proportion (e.g. more than
40%) of women on their boards

5. Investors must disclose, or be made to:
 The number of companies that they invest in that have
committed one or more serious violations of human rights
in the past three years
 State whether they have engaged with the companies and
other entities in which they have invested and, if yes, the
outcomes that have been achieved from this engagement
 State whether they have engaged with policy makers on
environmental and social issues and, if yes, the outcomes
that have been achieved through this engagement
 Source: Dr Rory Sullivan

6. What’s needed to change the current model
Companies must be much more vocal about the
"HOW" and start to think about change
OUTSIDE their industry as well as inside. E.G.
 Energy generation and efficiency
 Transportation
 Sustainability incentives for business
 NGO partnerships for innovation and solutions
 How they can help build innovative SMEs

8. What’s needed to change the current model
Companies must stop focusing on changing
consumer choices (impossible) and start 'choice
editing' - taking away unsustainable products
 Companies must stop promoting good things and
stop selling bad things: By choice
 Business must understand consumers don’t like
eco-labels and just want to trust the brand
 Consumer NGOs and institutions must reward
progress by the leading companies

9. How should Government, business, academic and NGOs change?
 Governments must INVEST in understanding
sustainability internally
 NGOs must be very solutions focused, less ideological and
think at a scale which they have not considered so far
 Academics need to reform their research incentives: Stop
producing research that no-one can read: Go open source
 Universities must have targets for business collaboration
and strategic plans to change the world beyond educating
students, by using their students!

10. Conclusions
 We must think radically
 We must regulate where disclosure will not do
harm
 We must scale up our resources and focus on
solutions
 We must not accept incrementalism as acceptable:
 We must focus on systems transformation
 We must say: Bring the change…