Huffington Magazine Issue 71 | Page 36

Voices and start addressing these issues? If we continue to consume key inputs like water, food, land and energy without thought as to their long-term sustainability, then none of us will prosper. If business is to regain the trust of society, it must start to tackle the big social and environmental issues that confront humanity, especially at a time when governments seem increasingly to be caught in shorter and shorter election cycles and have a hard time internalizing the global challenges in an increasingly interdependent world. As I have said many times, “business can not be a mere bystander in the system that gives it life.” The environmentalist Paul Hawken believes that if there is any deficit we are facing right now, it’s a deficit of meaning. Many are talking about the need for a GDP+. A broader measure of success than just simply wealth creation. Stepping up to the plate is not only the right thing for business to do from a moral perspective, but it is also in our economic self-interest. As CK Prahalad and others have argued, there are enormous growth and margin opportunities in what people now call “sustain- PAUL POLMAN HUFFINGTON 10.20.13 ability.” For Unilever, these are to be found in addressing the needs of billions of people for clean drinking water, basic hygiene and sanitation, nutritious food and sourcing all of our agricultural raw materials sustainably. Unilever’s future success depends upon us being able to decouple our growth from our environmental footprint while at the same time increasing our posi- When people talk about new forms of capitalism, this is what I have in mind: companies that show, in all transparency, that they are contributing to society, now and for many generations to come.” tive social impacts. These are the central objectives of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, which we launched in 2010. When people talk about new forms of capitalism, this is what I have in mind: companies that show, in all transparency, that they are contributing to society, now and for many generations to come. Not taking from it.