TNS Challenges Leaders

In January, ninety decision makers from business, the public sector, the non-profit sector, science and academia around the world, came to Stockholm to join The Natural Step’s first Sustainability Leadership Challenge, with TNS’s Patron, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

TNS Founder Karl Henrik Robèrt with His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

The goal of the conference was to stimulate cross-sector partnerships for the accelerated leadership of sustainable development. The day was divided in two parts. During the morning, speakers shared inspiring examples of what can be done when people work with a shared purpose, as well as the limitations of not doing so. In the afternoon participants broke into groups - based on Research, Education, Policy, Energy, Materials and Community Development - to discuss the challenges, explore opportunities, and propose projects for cross-sector collaboration on sustainable development.

Morning presenters included Anders Wijkman, member of the European Parliament, who shared that there is a lack of adequate political leadership for real changes toward sustainability. While there are some leaders who have what it takes, it is important for TNS to create even more good examples and role models. Ken Melamed, Mayor, of Whistler, British Columbia, showed just such an example. He shared how Whistler used rigorous frameworks to plan sustainable development with genuine community participation. Industry examples included bio-fuels in Sweden, and Hydro Polymers taking on the challenge of creating sustainable materials. Many other inspiring examples were shared, including stories from Columbia, Japan and New Zealand. The session ended with Alan AtKisson, executive director of Earth Charter Intl., presenting an initiative for developing a code of ethics for sustainability practitioners.

The afternoon session began with Dr. Robèrt describing the Natural Step Framework, and then the five groups got to work. Each group included a mix of interests and geography. The purpose was for each group to apply the framework through four sessions, to identify challenges to cross-sector cooperation and identify actions that could be taken within the next year.

The outcomes of the working session were encouraging, with a number of actions identified. In the research area, the primary action was to link several ongoing research programs including Sustainable Product Innovation at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BIT), Sustainable Regional Planning at Lund University, Sustainable Energy Systems in Asia at Tampere University, Green Chemistry in Industrial Ecology at Georgia Tech and Core Concepts of Strategic Sustainable Development at Lund and BIT.

The Education working group committed to creating an online community for learning and educating. Within the Energy group two participants agreed to investigate a potential new partnership for research. The Materials group will investigate the creation of a “sustainability standard” in product development.

The community development group agreed to continue to grow the TNS linked network of Eco-municipalities. Individual communities agreed to concentrate upon incentives for community development that are related to sustainable outcomes, including investment in infrastructure that meets sustainability goals. The challenges were significant, and the commitments to action were substantive. Our challenge is to make enough progress on these actions that we can share them in the future when we gather again.

For more detailed information about the summit, you can download the full summit report at: 

Sustainability Leadership Challenge: Summit Report