Sustainability isn’t just about making the environment greener, it’s also but ensuring everyone on the planet have equal opportunities to education, jobs and healthcare
Former US President Barack Obama may have left the oval office two years ago, but he feels that he has business left unfinished. And right at the top of that list is the issue of environmental sustainability and climate change.
In his time as president, Obama helped to oversee the creation of the Paris Accord agreement, a multilateral initiative that seeks to stem the effects of global warming. But he sees this as only the first step in a long process, and that more work needs to be done — and which he implied was in jeopardy as the current US administration intends to reverse it.
The erudite statesman was addressing a packed crowd at this year’s Oslo Business Forum, an event that seeks to highlight issues of technology and sustainability — which is a broad subject as it does not only pertain to the environment, but also to the economy and society.
Obama said that while technology is accelerating at a fast pace, giving humanity more efficient tools to “take us where we need to go”, it requires political and social commitment to enact real and positive change.
Indeed, the post-modern world that saw technology intertwined with globalisation has not created an utopia. Results varied across different nation states and classes. While globalisation have created newfound riches for some enterprising individuals and companies, it has also widen the income gap for many.
“I think that globalisation and global capital combined with technology in some ways have stitched the entire world together — you have this global supply chain. I can order goods on the other side of the world and have it here in two days. [Globalisation] is drawing upon the talents, skills, culture around the world,” said Obama.
“If you have a unique skill, talent, or algorithm, you now have access to an entire global market. You can amass an extraordinary wealth very quickly,” he said.
“If you don’t have a special skill or talent, a lot of your work is being replaced. So what you have is in advanced countries an increasing number of people who feel that the economy has left them behind, and that their social and economic status is declining, [which] breeds resentment and fear and feeds the political trends that we are seeing now.”
Obama referred to protectionist movements sweeping across the West as prime examples, such as UK’s Brexit referendum and the far right, nationalist movements in Poland, Hungary and the US. It is important not to underestimate the potency of these organisations, he said, as the internet is able to amplify their sentiments and mobilise disenchanted folks around such hateful doctrines.
To prevent such negative beliefs from taking root in society, business leaders and governments have to factor in sustainability as a key priority of their company and economic growth plans.
Obama said that in the 90s and 2000s, the Western world fell victim to arrogance and hubris, believing that a truly global market with no trade barriers will benefit every facade of society. But the financial crisis in 2008 showed that there was a caveat: that the global economy can grind to a standstill quickly when everything is connected — causing people to lose their jobs and even their homes.
“We have to do a better job in rearranging social and institutional arrangements to ensure everyone has a place to move up the economic ladder and ensure that the gaps between the high and low are not too large … In order for us to sustain the good of globalisation and efficiencies of tech, it’s important for us to compensate for some of the harshness of change by rearranging economic and political organisations,” he said.
“Sustainable goals are important — to make sure that investment are spread out more broadly. If you don’t do that, those imbalances will break the system,” said Obama.
Business leaders, he said, has to challenge themselves to think beyond just profits, pleasing shareholders and expanding their markets.
“They forgot that their mission depends on society functioning well. If society does not function will, you will see protectionism rising, you start seeing authoritarian tendencies in governments. If we don’t observe the rule of law, we will go down that road,” he said.
“One of the frustrations I had with US businesses is that when they exercise their political power, they are very interested in cutting taxes and reducing regulatory restraints, but they are less interested in society’s progress. They have to pay attention to what is happening beyond the four corners of their balance sheet.”
Diversity
At the forum, Obama also spoke on the importance of diversity and inclusiveness. He said that studies have shown that organisations with a mass of female leadership tend to have more profits, better talent and higher valuations, among other benefits.
“If you have a company with a board of all men, you have a problem, you are not well equipped to succeed.”
Obama also spoke about the importance of having a diverse mix of races in a company. As countries grow more cosmopolitan, it’s critical to have a mix of views from people of different backgrounds so that any blindspots can be identified.
He also spoke about the strength of diversity in the context of bringing together a group of people with differing opinions.
“When I was US president, in any meeting on a subject — war, economic crisis — I knew that every point of view was representative in that table, so i can see the problem from every angle … and guard against natural bias,” said Obama.
“On any big decision I made, usually I was dealing with probabilities; problems that came to me didn’t have a perfect solution, but I created process where I have all the information and seen and heard every rational debate in this issue so that I trust that I making as good as a decision that can be made with imperfect information,” he said.
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