17: John Elkington - Sustainability Is Inevitable

John Elkington is a pioneer of the global sustainability movement, co-founding Environmental Data Services in 1978 and SustainAbility in 1987.

An author of 19 books, his million-selling book The Green Consumer Guide (1988) brought mass attention to the environmental impacts of everyday products and brands. John’s Cannibals with Forks in 1997 popularised his ‘Triple Bottom Line’ concept (People, Planet, Profit) and laid the foundations for sustainable business strategy.

John co-founded Volans to span the yawning divides between what the sustainability industry was doing and what needs to be done. As the company enters its second decade, John is on a mission to “10X” Volans’ impact.

Highlights:

• The most critical skill to have a long lasting career
• The story behind the triple bottom line
• Integrating financial value to non-financial forms of capital
• Tomorrow’s capitalism enquiries to engage leadership companies e.g. The Body Shop
• What is next after the Triple Bottom Line
• Green Swans - Integrating Responsibility, Resilience and Regeneration
• Leading the business response to Extinction Rebellion
• How Silicon Valley tech companies are beginning to address the global challenges
• Why companies and the financial markets are switching on
• Why the challenge is pan-generational
• Challenges of starting an environmental data service business in 1978
• What John learned from meeting Frank Herbert and Buckminster Fuller

Useful links:

John Elkington’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-elkington-2907568/
John Elkington’s website - http://johnelkington.com/about/
Volans - https://volans.com/

Tomorrow’s Capitalism Inquiry - https://volans.com/project/tomorrows-capitalism-inquiry/

Society 5.0 and SDGs - https://www.keidanrensdgs-world.com/dashtothegoals

Sustainability - http://sustainability.com/

Lise Kingo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Kingo

UN Global Compact - https://www.unglobalcompact.org/

Project Breakthrough - http://breakthrough.unglobalcompact.org/

Harvard Business Review on Triple Bottom Line - https://hbr.org/2018/06/25-years-ago-i-coined-the-phrase-triple-bottom-line-heres-why-im-giving-up-on-it

Edward Max Nicholson | Environmentalist - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Max_Nicholson

Dune - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)

Frank Herbert | Author - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert

Buckminster Fuller - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller
Milton Friedman - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman
Black Swan Theory - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory 

 

Time stamp:

[04:47] Father of triple bottom line

[06:40] What is impact investing

[08:11] History of the triple bottom line
[14:30] Black Swans & Green Swans

[18:20] Business leaders are stepping up to fill a gap

[20:39] Responding to Extinction Rebellion

[23:00] Being invited to talk to companies from around the world

[27:25] Founding 4 companies

[29:50] Project Breakthrough

[35:00] Good sustainability programmes are reducing cost of capital

[44:33] Writing for 5 years before having a breakthrough

[46:30] It is inevitable to pursue a transformative change agenda 

[48:00] Meeting Frank Herbert was a spiritual experience

[50:10] Buckminster Fuller went through a period of “unplugging”

Connect with JP Dallmann on Linkedin, Twitter, or Instagram.

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Impact Leaders is produced by Podcast Publishing