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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Walmart de Mexico

John Elkington · 4 September 2013 · Leave a Comment

Sustainability Summit, take 2

The ribbon is cut, by about 20 pairs of scissors The ribbon is cut, by about 20 pairs of scissors CEO panel CEO panel Tigers Tigers

Headed out early to the conference venue for the Walmart sustainability event, the second in a series that started in 2010. The ribbon was cut by an extraordinary number of dignitaries, everyone ending up with their fragment. The working day started with a session with perhaps 20 CEOs listening to the Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources. Parallel sessions included people like Paul Simpson of CDP, who I would have very much liked to hear, but I was repeatedly hooked away to do interviews for business magazines and a green TV channel.

When it came to my 60-minute plenary session, I was introduced by Juan Carlos Carmago of Walmart de Mexico, who also moderated the discussion. One of my themes here has been corruption, not just for Walmart but for Mexico as a whole. I have always felt that corruption narrows vision when we want open minds, shrinks time-scales when we want people to build their Future Quotient, and skews investment in critical sectors like urban infratsructure construction.

On the upside, I was very impressed by the commitment to change of the Walmart people I met–and one of the surprises was how much renewable energy Walmart is now producing in Mexico.

in the evening, in a torrential downpour, I was driven from the hotel to the residency of the British Ambassador for a dinner including people from CDP, Walmart and PEMEX. Once I had dried out, I really enjoyed the discussion, and found myself sitting next to Daniel Zapata, an advisor to the CEO of PEMEX, who reminded me he came to see me at SustainAbility when looking for a job perhaps as long as ten years ago. Remarkable guy. A highlight of the evening was the signing of an agreement between CDP and Brazil’s Business Council for Sustainable Development.

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Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

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About

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

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john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

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