Launching Tomorrow's Owners - Stewardship of tomorrow's company on the day that the Financial Times reported the 'part-nationalisation' of UK Banks, it is perhaps all too easy to get lost in the financial bubble.  As I argued at our launch event in Guildhall, it is essential to remember what the financial system should be for.

 

In recent coverage, it almost appears that the collapse of confidence in bankers has led to a collapse in confidence in the purpose of banking.  And as I have commented in another blog, a collapse in credit is in a very literal sense a collapse in trust, pure and simple. 

 

So let's remember the basic arguments we are making in forceforgood, and the global inquiry on which it is based.  And recognise that we are not going to barter our way into solving issues such as climate change, food and water security, and the wider agenda which we believe business should tackle in 'expanding the space'.

 

All of this was dramatically emphasised by two reports that came out this week, the significance of which could well be lost amidst the focus on finance and the markets.

 

 

The first, from HSBC, concludes that:

 

Companies providing goods and services that tackle climate change now form a bigger industry grouping than the global software and biotechnology sectors combined, according to new research ... Global annual revenues from such businesses – which include renewable energy companies, nuclear power and energy management specialists – have surpassed $300bn for the first time

 

This of course provides further dramatic evidence of the new wave of value creation I have identified - a wave based on creating value through sustainability.  A wave evidenced through the green gold rush

 

The second reports the most recent conclusions of the UK Government's climate change committee:

 

The UK should cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 per cent by mid-century, the Government's climate change committee recommended today ... The committee said a more stringent target than the 60 per cent cut currently in the Climate Change Bill was needed, because new information suggested the dangers of global warming were greater than previously thought

 

To combat climate change and related issues - and internalise the externalities that as human beings through business and related activities we have created - we need to reshape what business does and how it does it.  And to do this, we need a finance system we can trust.