Professor Rebecca Henderson, McArthur Professor at Harvard University and author of Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, says the world is facing simultaneous crises of environmental degradation, economic inequality and institutional collapse.
While significant GDP growth worldwide has done much to bring people out of poverty, in many places in the world growth is only benefitting those at the top.Business’ role in the transition “At its best, business generates employment and innovation. The only way out of the kinds of massive problems we face [is through both employment and innovation], at a huge scale. Private firms, with the right kinds of incentives and regulation, are best positioned to lead the charge,” Henderson said.
“This crisis has indicated that sustainable companies are more resilient to shocks in the economy and that we should use the opportunity to build on that already very powerful trend.” Assessing the impact of responsible investment is difficult to capture with simplistic measurement metrics, but Henderson said it was important “to get the wheels of change turning. The core realisation is that non-financial measurements of performance are material. They are material to the firm and to society. We must begin to get a grip on them.”It has become clear that there are many things business could and should do to address society’s major problems.