World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) was established in 1995, and is a CEO led community, of over 200 of the words leading sustainable businesses, that work to accelerate all the system transformations that are required to accomplish a net zero, nature positive, and more equitable future. It develops “how – to” CEO Guides based on insights of sustainability leaders and executives on opportunities and challenges in tackling sustainability challenges, as well as a large number of resources.
The CEOs represent companies with over 19 million employees globally and come from all business sectors and all major economies.
WBCSDs mission is to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world by making more sustainable businesses more successful. WBCSDs vision is to create a world where more than 9 billion people are all living well and within planetary boundaries, by 2050.
In order to achieve its Vision 2050: Time to Transform businesses need to focus their actions where they can lead to system transformations. It sets a framework on how businesses should operate in the decade ahead and include nine transformation pathways, aligned with the SDGs and the targets of the Paris agreement:
- energy
- transportation and mobility
- living spaces
- products and materials
- financial products and services
- connectivity
- health and wellbeing
- water and sanitation
- food
Each pathway contains ten areas a company should act on for the decade ahead. Those are designed to transform business strategies, operations and impact. However three mindset shifts are proposed to be adopted: reinventing capitalism that rewards true value creation; focusing on building long-term resilience; and taking a regenerative approach beyond doing no harm.
A large number of projects and resources exist on three imperatives: Climate Action, Equity Action, and Nature Action as well as a Sustainability Panorama including a large number of articles, podcasts and videos