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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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You are here: Home / Archive / Timelines Archive

Timelines Archive

waves

The waves diagram

Downwave 3 (2003 – 2007)
2003 marked the twentieth anniversary of our launching of the old John Elkington Associates—and saw the launch of this website, almost a year in the making. A huge amount has changed since 1983 and a great deal has been achieved. But as the Downwave 3 period gets into its stride, with global recession, war in Iraq, the economic impact of the SARS epidemic in Asia and so on, we need to refocus and prepare for new challenges.

wave3
Wave 1 focused on governments

wave2
Wave 2 focused on business and markets

wave1
Wave 3 focused on globalisation and governance

wave3
Downwave 1 saw a raft of new laws introduced across the OECD

wave2
Downwave 2 saw a proliferation of environmental and social management systems

wave2
Downwave 3 will see at least seven key issues in the spotlight

 

Among the issues I expect to be predominant in this new phase of the debate are:

Security:
Competing definitions of security are emerging. Some are based on high technology defence technologies, others on the notion that, in the end, “we are all in the same boat, including future generations.” There are profound implications for privacy and civil rights.

Globalisation:
With the market signals early in 2003 suggesting that the globalisation project has slipped a few gears, and could well go into reverse, there will be new emphasis on how we can achieve globalisation that really does achieve acceptable triple bottom line outcomes.

Governance:
Both global and corporate governance will continue to be in the spotlight. Of the two, global governance is by far the biggest challenge, as the problems experienced by the US, UN, NATO and the EU during the build-up to the Iraq war—and subsequently—demonstrated.

Financial markets:
A growing proportion of our work has focused on financial markets: the insurers, reinsurers, lenders, financial analysts, and so on.

Access:
2002’s World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was something of a political failure, but it usefully sketched out a powerful new agenda for the next decade. The focus will be on access: access to clean water, affordable energy, drugs (e.g. for HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria), and so on.

Social enterprise:
Most of our work has focused on large corporations, but we remain skeptical about their capacity to make the necessary changes in time. So we plan to focus more time and effort on the social entrepreneurs who are experimenting with radically new technologies and business models.

Market engineering:
To make the necessary changes happen, we will need to become much more sophisticated in terms of reshaping market signals to deliver sustainable outcomes. Experiments such as the Chicago Climate Exchange are pioneering in this critically important new opportunity space.

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From the Journal

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In very much the same way that I have long loved to visit the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., when there, so I try to do the same with the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, when in New York. Walked there today, around 20 blocks either way. Long queue to get in, […]

Cleaner Fish, Dirty Waters

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I always forget how late even major Brazilian events are in kicking off. The second day of the UN Global Compact event for Brazilian business today started 30 minutes late, precisely when I was meant to speak – and time-keeping didn’t improve much thereafter. Great fun, even so. Note to self, though: ensure you deliver […]

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Serendipity can work in mysterious ways. Some years ago Elaine showed me a media report on Jubilee Marsh, near Southend-on-Sea, where 3 million tonnes of spoil from the Elizabeth Line tunnelling project had been used to reinforce and extend a saltmarsh. I made a mental note to visit it someday. Then, today, the Volans team […]

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.

Contact

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

John Elkington

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