Grayling Insights

Grayling Future Planet launch

Přidal Na 4.11.2011 Od Bruce Shu V Germany, Switzerland, Grayling Blog, Global, World Cup, Austria, Grayling Insights, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Western Europe, Olympics 2012

Earlier this week, 20 or so Grayling team members converged on London to celebrate the launch of our newly rebranded sustainability and CSR practice, Grayling Future Planet. Through the clinking wine glasses and excited discussions of new possibilities, one message came through particularly clearly to me. And that is, as in so many other spheres of communication, Pax Americana is coming to an end. Not just Pax Americana, actually, but the whole Western-driven sustainability and CSR agenda. The key word here is "driven". Corporate social responsibility, the multinational company's imperative to create a sustainable business built on sustainable communities, these are of course firm trends that are here to stay and will spread around the world.

What struck me was how not universal ideas of sustainability are around the world, and this has implications for how international sustainability professionals approach their work. Ask people in China if, say, pollution is a serious national problem and over 80% say yes. Numbers like that are what sustainability professionals like to hear. They fit comfortably into the model that has evolved in Europe and North America in the past decade or two: Companies, partly for commercial reasons and partly to respond to public and consumer demand for action, need to do their part for the future of the planet.

But consider this: Among China's 1.3 billion people, the vast majority are struggling to get into the middle class. With a flimsy state social safety net, they are fighting to save to buy a decent house or to get some peace of mind that medical bills will be covered. They are worried about getting a good education for their children and how to look after their parents with inflation eroding the value of pensions. Is it any wonder that, although air, water and land contamination are valid and serious concerns, they don't actually spend too much time thinking about global warming or whether they should pay twice as much for non-GMO food or four times as much for organic, bleach-free toilet paper.

I can feel most readers cringing at this point. Yes, everyone should take responsibility for his or her impact on the planet. But what hit home yesterday is that the reality is that this is the general view that is given much thought in the UK and in the West. It is not necessarily top of mind in much of the developing world.

The first and a big step for sustainability practitioners is accepting this truth, and for most this will lead to questions on why, fundamentally, a company is engaging in sustainable practices. When should Western-based multinationals advocate what is right, at the risk of being seen to be out of touch or proselytizing or at the very last not being terribly effective in the developing world? When should multinationals allow the new agenda setters, such as China, to drive the programme based on local priorities? Can we find approaches that resonate with people who don't think like us, so that we can talk about what we believe is important and change behavior?

These are some of the questions that Grayling Future Planet strives to answer. Our approach and our team - providing a different kind of thinking for a different kind of world - give us a unique perspective that is as insightful on local realities as it is practical for companies that need a global platform and voice. That is why I am so excited about Grayling Future Planet.