Björn Stigson, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development delivered the final keynote address of the 10th Anniversary Meeting of the Forum. In his remarks, Stigson focused on presenting the business perspective on the needs and requirements of achieving a more sustainable development.

Stigson explained that, at the time of its founding, the World Business Council felt compelled to systematically pose the question “What is sustainable development?” A project resulting in three scenarios was put together to attempt to flesh out an answer. The first scenario is FROG (First Raise Our Growth… and then we’ll worry about the rest.) “That’s very much today’s world,” remarked Stigson. “We’re still on that unsustainable path.”

The final keynote speaker of the conference, Björn Stigson, sought to present the business perspective of the relationship between business and sustainable development. Stigson explained that, at the time of its founding, the World Business Council felt compelled to systematically pose the question “What is sustainable development?” A project resulting in three scenarios was put together to attempt to flesh out an answer. The first scenario is FROG (First Raise Our Growth… and then we’ll worry about the rest.) “That’s very much today’s world,” remarked Stigson. “We’re still on that unsustainable path.”

The next two scenarios addressed what a sustainable world might look like. The first of the two scenarios is Geopolity, a big government world. “We asked ourselves ‘What would it take for governments to start to take action and move the world from a FROG path over to a sustainable path?’” said Stigson. The results of the scenario study showed that such a world could only come into existence as a response to a deep crisis. “The governments will not take action and move the world in a sustainable direction before we’ve come deep into a crisis so they feel that they have got a sufficient mandate…” declared Stigson.

Jazz, indicating humans living is harmony with nature, is the third scenario and one that would lead to a more sustainable world. “Could we make the markets work and integrate values around environment and social issues and move in a sustainable direction?” Stigson pointed out that this is a time-consuming process. “The key question is then ‘Are the ecosystems resilient enough to give us the time?’” said Stigson.

Stigson acknowledged that we have indeed been gradually moving from a FROG to a Jazz scenario. “I see a number of these market forces coming into play … but we are certainly not there yet,” said Stigson. He pointed to two key parameters that differentiate the three worlds: certainty (“How much time do we have? Is the ecosystem resilient enough?”) and the government system (“Big government decisions vs. a market oriented system.”)

“The issue of uncertainty has broadened,” said Stigson. “We have economic uncertainty, uncertainty regarding China and India, uncertainty regarding corporate social responsibility issues.” Stigson points out that, in 2050, 85% of the world’s population, an aging population, will live in developing countries. “The pressure on the social security network – on health care, pensions and so on – will be tremendous at the same time,” said Stigson.

He also noted that it is unclear about who is actually in charge of promoting sustainable development among the governments of the world: “You knock on the door, and it’s pretty empty when you try to open it.” Stigson felt that intergovernmental bodies, such as the UN, have been weakened over the past ten years. “It’s very difficult for the global community to come together and come to an agreement on any kind of governmental level,” said Stigson. “There is no leadership in the leading countries.” Stigson later added “I do not believe that we will create a sustainable consumption without legislation and rules from our governments.”

“The big question is ‘Who is in charge of creating a sustainable world?’” said Stigson. “In this situation, I think the question that you are posing – which you’ve called ‘Beyond Traditional Partnerships’ – becomes a very big issue.” Stigson pointed out that governments are limited to their national borders, but corporations are active worldwide. “Business … is operating across borders, where we’re looking for global solutions because we want to be able to optimize across borders.”

The world consists of three parts – government, business and civil society. “The parts of society that have got resources – governments and business – have very little trust,” observed Stigson. “And then you’ve got civil society, which has no resources but has trust.” Stigson stated that there is a global deficit of trust. Stigson asked the NGO community “Are you willing to trade trust for being part of the solution or are you going to sit on the sidelines and be critical?” He asked what it would take to put away trust issues and become part of the solution. “What is the price of trust? What do you want in return for trading your trust for being part of the solution? For many of the leading NGOs, that’s a pretty tough question,” stated Stigson.

Stigson named academia and foundations as two of the greatest reservoirs of trust. “You have a lot of trust,” said Stigson. “How do we create trust for the tradeoffs that are needed in society? … Governments and business can sit down together but do not have the trust to make those tradeoffs.”

“There is a Chinese proverb that says ‘If you do not change direction, you will end up where you are going,’” said Stigson. “We are going down the FROG path, which is an unsustainable path. If we don’t change direction, that’s where we’ll end up.” Stigson stated his belief that governments will not take the reigns until there is a very serious crisis. “I think we need to find a way to go beyond traditional partnerships if we want to create a sustainable world going forward,” said Stigson.