In This Issue
Editor's Note
The Ocean: Challenges and Opportunities for Business
At the BSR Conference 2009, renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle said that in the past 50 years, we have caused more disruption to the ocean system than in any other period of history. Yet, as BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer points out, oceans are still “orphaned in the sustainability world.”
This Friday, Cramer will be speaking about the role of business as a “custodian” for our oceans in the Economist’s World Ocean Summit. In honor of that event, we invited Michael Sutton, vice president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Center for the Future of the Oceans to share his perspective on the challenges and opportunities for business in protecting ocean resources.
We also share highlights from our first “Great Debate” in BSR’s Paris office, in which Sodexo CEO Michel Landel and Ashoka France CEO Arnaud Mourot discussed how companies and their stakeholders can work together to identify innovative sustainable solutions.
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In Depth
Business: Blue and Green
By Michael Sutton, Vice President, Center for the Future of the Oceans, Monterey Bay Aquarium
The greatest threats to our oceans—climate change, overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution—can be solved if we harness the power of business.
Read more →
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Spotlight
Business’ Role in Ocean ‘Custodianship’
BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer will lead a discussion on how companies can be “custodians” of the oceans at the Economist’s World Oceans Summit in Singapore later this week.
The panel—which also includes leaders from the World Oceans Council, John Swire & Sons, Sailors for the Sea, and Arup—will examine the impact corporate oceans initiatives are currently having on ocean problems and on companies’ bottom lines.
Other discussion points will include:
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What is driving these initiatives?
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What is the value and the business case for taking custodianship of the oceans?
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What can be done to get more companies to adopt responsible approaches to ocean conservation overall?
In a blog post related to his workshop, Cramer wrote that “oceans are too often orphaned in the sustainability world. While many companies depend on the oceans for feedstocks, transport, and energy, few businesses have developed a comprehensive approach to sustaining this precious resource.”
For related BSR resources on business’ role in protecting ocean resources, read our Q&A with ocean explorer and TED Prize winner Sylvia Earle or read about her address at the BSR Conference 2009.
On the Record
Facing the Dilemmas of Sustainable Development
At the first of BSR’s “Great Debates”—an event series held in our Paris office to help celebrate BSR’s 20-year anniversary—Sodexo CEO Michel Landel and Ashoka France CEO Arnaud Mourot discussed how companies and their stakeholders can identify innovative sustainable solutions together through collective thinking.
The speakers agreed that empowering workers and fostering entrepreneurship within companies and society can be a strong catalyst for finding creative and innovative solutions to systemic problems.
“Service companies cannot [continue] to deliver value to their clients if they don’t know how to put their people at the heart of their activities and find ways to factor sustainability into the way they improve strategy and operations.”
—Michel Landel, CEO, Sodexo (February 9, 2012)
“The world of business and the world of not-for-profit are too often opposed, while they have much to bring to each other. Today, business and social initiatives [must] converge to create new alliances and new models.”
—Arnaud Mourot, Ashoka France (February 9, 2012)
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