3 questions for business leaders from Rio+20

Business and world leaders have a responsibility to contribute to sustainable development, as do each of us as individuals, but how can the business community in particular enhance its contribution?

Against a backdrop of the Rio+20 Summit, its hundreds of side events and Rio de Janeiro's trademark samba music and beaches, I attended two events this week that helped to paint a clearer picture of the role businesses can play.

The Corporate Sustainability Forum (CSF), a three-day event organized by the UN Global Compact, and the Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD) Business Day, however, also brought to mind three questions that, aside from keeping me up at night, I will pose to business leaders worldwide.

• How can we create more regenerative business models that are resource positive?
• How can companies engage more with governments and in public policy debates?
• What can I do with my global and local communities?

The policymakers, NGOs and business, civil society and academic leaders who attended the events specifically highlighted three ways businesses can support sustainable development.

• Foster partnerships, dialogue and social inclusion

Business must shift its attitude from that of philanthropy to that of genuine collaboration. During the CSF closing plenary, Janice E. Perlman, founder and president of the Mega-Cities Project, illustrated this point by quoting a low-income urban woman: "If you came to help me, you can go home. But, if you see my problem as part of yours, perhaps we can work together."

Other speakers presented examples of this type of partnership, such as the HERproject, a factory-based women's health peer-to-peer initiative, and PepsiCo International's partnership with Columbia University's Water Center at the Earth Institute to improve rural water and livelihood outcomes.

• Scale up existing solutions

One speaker declared that many of the solutions -- technology and knowledge -- already exist. Some of the best examples of initiatives to scale up that were presented include Hydro's energy-positive building in Germany and participation in Powerhouse alliance, the Green Industry Platform, the Water Hub of the CEO Water Mandate, and The Regeneration Project.

• Leadership, transparency and good governance are crucial

Sustainability is good for business. One participant noted that "sustainability is not just the right thing to do, it is smart business."
The need for companies to be leaders is even greater when there are limited resources in areas due to the global economic climate, the pervasive inequality and poverty despite economic growth, and the environmental degradation.

Much of the energy at Rio+20 comes from the belief that more companies are "at the table" than in 1992, and that solutions must involve multi-stakeholder partnerships. As BSR CEO and President Aron Cramer has argued, that lasting progress is more likely to come from broad coalitions of actively engaged participants rather than intergovernmental agreements.

Brittany Trilford, a 17-year New Zealand student and climate change activist, came to Rio "to fight for my future." The 1992 Earth Summit promises "are not broken, but empty," she said. "They remain, but are unsupported."

I believe those who are not engaged should fear they're missing out on being a part of these coalitions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and protect a world that we would be proud to pass on to Trilford's generation.

Image courtesy of the U.N.