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At last week’s Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation seminar representatives of the trade union movement, international business and finance discussed what might drive the private sector to increase its engagement with the development agenda. One insight, about the significance for business of global inequality, caught my attention.
All agreed that there has been a big shift over the last 10-20 years, with the private sector becoming engaged in the development agenda, rather than standing aside or being ignored. Initiatives such as the UN Global Compact and the Sustainable Sourcing Code have both pushed and enabled businesses to contribute.
But what about the future? What could provide the impetus for business to be a “driver” rather than a “spoiler” for sustainable development?
Various potential drivers, familiar to many of us, were put forward, such as stronger states and stronger regulation, pressure from shareholders or consumers, new business opportunities and scarcity of natural resources. But most interesting to me was the idea that inequality – often blamed on the opportunities that business affords to some and the exploitation by business of others – could be a driver for better business in the future.
The seminar speakers referred to inequality as the biggest challenge to sustainable development today. Going one step further, Sasja Beslik, Head of Responsible Investment and Governance at Nordea Investment Funds, suggested that not only is inequality the biggest challenge but it should be a significant driver for the private sector to get involved in development.
Sasja argued that since global inequality brings instability to the financial markets, the private sector faces serious risks because of increasing inequality. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before this is widely recognised and accepted, since this insight offers the tantalizing possibility that the interests of business and global society could coincide to drive sustainable development.
