AdvertisementThese issues must be discussed, and we should all hope that they can be resolved with minimal damage.But they should not deflect attention from even more pressing long-term challenges: Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030; delivering on the Paris climate agreement over the next 30 years; and reforming our global economic system to make it fit for the next 50 years and beyond.
A window with the World Economic Forum annual meeting logo is seen in Davos, Switzerland, January 23, 2019. On the first point, we desperately need to change our overall economic frame of reference. For 75 years, the world marched to the beat of the drum called “Gross Domestic Product”. A more ambitious measure is “Natural Capital,” based on a country’s ecosystems, fish stocks, minerals, and other natural assets. Because this “balance sheet” would also need to include human capital, we could incorporate all of the relevant elements in one composite scorecard.
Here, one option is to embrace independent tools such as the Climate Action Tracker, which shows each country’s progress toward meeting its national commitments under the Paris agreement. Moreover, a renewed emphasis on sovereign action can help us strike the right balance between global goals and demands for national autonomy.Finally, we should recognise how the role of business has changed over the last 50 years.