Yvon Chouinard

Jib Ellison

Rick Ridgeway

Hoy en día nadie niega seriamente la necesidad de prácticas empresariales sostenibles. Incluso aquellos que solo se preocupan por los negocios y no por el destino del planeta reconocen que la viabilidad de los negocios en sí depende de los recursos de los ecosistemas sanos (agua dulce, aire limpio, biodiversidad sólida, tierras productivas) y de la estabilidad de sociedades justas. Afortunadamente, a la mayoría de nosotros también nos importan estas cosas directamente.

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Reprint: R1110B 
Like most holy grails, sustainability as a firm&#8217;s most dependable route to financial high performance has seemed a goal always beyond reach. The problem is simple. Businesses are rarely obliged to pay for the full toll their operations take on the world. Because many of these impacts have been hard to gauge with any precision&#8212;or to assign to individual businesses with fairness&#8212;their costs have remained external to businesses&#8217; accounting. That means it&#8217;s generally cheaper for consumers to buy a product that has a worse impact on the environment than the equivalent product that does less harm. But what if we could get to the point where the lowest-priced T-shirt was also the one doing the least harm to the planet and society? 
Three trends, each gathering force on its own, are now converging to make that goal a reality: (1) The values of many vital natural resources traditionally considered priceless are being quantified so that they can be factored into economic equations and individual firm&#8217;s accounting. (2) Socially responsible investing has matured beyond negative screening to become a value-seeking discipline generating positive impetus for change. (3) Industries are converging on standard indices for rating products&#8217; sustainability and seeking improvements throughout their value chains. 
Patagonia&#8217;s Yvon Chouinard and Rick Ridgeway team up with sustainability consultant Jib Ellison to explain those trends and how their convergence is driving a new era in sustainability. According to the authors, progress in each area spurs progress in the others, to the extent that the long-sought alignment of a firm&#8217;s prosperity with the best interests of the planet seems not only possible but inevitable.

The Sustainable Economy

Reimpresión: R1110B Como la mayoría de los santos griales, la sostenibilidad como la ruta más confiable de la empresa hacia un alto rendimiento financiero parece un objetivo siempre inalcanzable. El problema es simple. Las empresas rara vez están obligadas a pagar todos los peajes que sus operaciones causan en el mundo. Como muchos de estos impactos han sido difíciles de evaluar con precisión (o de asignarlos a las empresas individuales con equidad), sus costes han seguido siendo ajenos a la contabilidad de las empresas. Eso significa que, por lo general, es más barato para los consumidores comprar un producto que tenga un impacto peor en el medio ambiente que un producto equivalente que cause menos daños. Pero, ¿y si pudiéramos llegar al punto en que la camiseta más barata fuera también la que menos perjudicara al planeta y a la sociedad? Tres tendencias, cada una cobrando fuerza por sí sola, convergen ahora para hacer realidad ese objetivo: (1) Los valores de muchos recursos naturales vitales que tradicionalmente se consideraban invaluables se están cuantificando para que puedan tenerse en cuenta en las ecuaciones económicas y en la contabilidad de las empresas individuales. (2) La inversión socialmente responsable ha madurado más allá de la evaluación negativa para convertirse en una disciplina que busca valor y genera un impulso positivo para el cambio. (3) Las industrias están convergiendo según los estándares índices para valorar la sostenibilidad de los productos y buscar mejoras en su valor cadenas. Yvon Chouinard y Rick Ridgeway, de la Patagonia, colaboran con el consultor de sostenibilidad Jib Ellison para explicar esas tendencias y cómo su convergencia está impulsando una nueva era de la sostenibilidad. Según los autores, el progreso en cada área impulsa el progreso en las demás, hasta el punto de que la tan buscada alineación de la prosperidad de una empresa con los mejores intereses del planeta no solo parece posible sino inevitable.

La econom&iacute;a sostenible

Reprint: R1110B Like most holy grails, sustainability as a firm’s most dependable route to financial high performance has seemed a goal always beyond reach. The problem is simple. Businesses are rarely obliged to pay for the full toll their operations take on the world. Because many of these impacts have been hard to gauge with any precision—or to assign to individual businesses with fairness—their costs have remained external to businesses’ accounting. That means it’s generally cheaper for consumers to buy a product that has a worse impact on the environment than the equivalent product that does less harm. But what if we could get to the point where the lowest-priced T-shirt was also the one doing the least harm to the planet and society? Three trends, each gathering force on its own, are now converging to make that goal a reality: (1) The values of many vital natural resources traditionally considered priceless are being quantified so that they can be factored into economic equations and individual firm’s accounting. (2) Socially responsible investing has matured beyond negative screening to become a value-seeking discipline generating positive impetus for change. (3) Industries are converging on standard indices for rating products’ sustainability and seeking improvements throughout their value chains. Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard and Rick Ridgeway team up with sustainability consultant Jib Ellison to explain those trends and how their convergence is driving a new era in sustainability. According to the authors, progress in each area spurs progress in the others, to the extent that the long-sought alignment of a firm’s prosperity with the best interests of the planet seems not only possible but inevitable.

La economía sostenible

Resumen.

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