A presentation given in Mumbai, on 17th November 2007 by Pavan Sukhdev, a Managing Director in the Global Markets division of Deutsche Bank AG and member of Green Indian States Trust, about the measurement of sustainability. For more information visit www.gistindia.org

  There is plenty of research evidence documenting the business benefits from high-trust business relationships. Unfortunately at times like this (2009), the knee-jerk crisis reaction of many companies is to squeeze suppliers harder rather than to combine a call for greater efficiency with a collaborative approach to finding sustainable solutions. One study documented in A Guide to Trust (by the Relationships Foundation with Ci) examined supply chain relationships in the motor industry and found dramatic benefits for those with high-trust relationships: Design and distribution ideas were shared, and purchasers handled twice the value of goods when dealing within highly trusted manufacturers. In another industry, Jim Sierck of Xerox USA estimated that the bureaucratic structure created to handle the lack of trust in their buyer/supplier relationships cost them around 7 cents in the dollar.The evidence is clear: If you want efficiency, you need to release all the available talent,...

Later this year, the Government will launch a package to help SMEs better understand and respond to the opportunities and risks posed by the move to the low carbon economy as part of their UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy. The package will consist of four key elements. One of which will be a guide for business, by business, on the uptake, development and marketing of low carbon solutions, to be produced this autumn, by Tomorrow’s Company, in partnership with businesses, Government and other organisations.  The guide is being supported by Halcrow, HSBC, Ogilvy & Mather, Marks & Spencer and the Carbon Trust, among others. This is laid out on page 74 of the document.

Qualitative Growth by Fritjof Capra and Hazel Henderson has been published by Tomorrow’s Company with the ICAEW.  This paper not only builds on our mission to understand better business success and how it can best be achieved, but also sets this in what Tomorrow's Company describe as the triple context: that sustainable value creation will be rooted in harnessing the full opportunity of recognising the links between the economic, social and environmental sub-systems on which we all depend for our lives and prosperity. Although sustainability is a growing issue, it is not well understood. As the subject is prioritised by business, governments and civil society, the need to clarify how to do it, how to measure and report on it and how to assure sustainability information become key issues. In the ICAEW landmark publication Sustainability: the role of accountants the ICAEW argued that these areas of expertise – building and managing flows of valuable, reliable and trusted information...

In 2004 Tomorrow's company published a report on what robust  and responsible financial services would look like after comprehensive research and consultation with hundreds of proffessionals working in the city. Restoring Trust has been validated by the financial crisis of 2008 and is still a useful document to provide clear goals.  In many ways, the challenges facing today's policy makers is to get to the system which Restoring Trust sets out. The inquiry is in essence an industry self portrait.  It is based on interviews and workshops conducted with over 500 people drawn from every aspect of the investment chain.  In formulating our proposals we have taken account of a number of government inquiries, industry reviews, trade body and company initiatives.