GEF

Unit 10  |  Toward a Sustainable Future 223 10.5  Sustainability and Competitive Advantage Do businesses have a responsibility to promote a healthy envi- ronment and the broader social good? This is a complicated question that has different answers depending on the size and scope of the business, its integration into the community, and its corporate mission. There are strong incentives for companies to operate under a systemwhich emphasizes monetary returns to investors and executives. Publicly-traded companies are valued by their share price, which does not reflect corporate responsibility. Many economists have resisted calls for companies to prioritize social responsibility, arguing that the primary role of businesses is to make profits, and that social initiatives distract from this goal. PUBLICLY-TRADED COMPANIES Companies that sell and trade ownership shares to the public through a stock exchange. SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPTS The shift towards private sector sustainability has been spearheaded by Amory Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). RMI, based in Basalt, Colorado, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the general field of sustainability, with a special focus on profitable innovations for energy and resource efficiency. RMI promotes natural capitalism, an approach which has at its core the idea that using natural resources and energy efficiently not only is better for the environment, but also increases wealth. Lovins and RMI have emphasized straightforward design principles for industry that both reduce resource use and lower costs. Instead of piece-by-piece design, RMI emphasizes whole-system design that focuses on the interconnections between parts and the integration of the entire system. This ecological approach to industrial design is demonstrating that businesses look at efficiency investments as system improvements rather than costs, and that making choices which are better for the environment can be profitable.