- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 September 2002 18.12 BST
Anyone thinking that the gathering of world leaders would lead to a more sustainable world might be excused, given the reams of righteous rhetoric the event emitted (on tonnes of paper that local environmentalists struggled to recycle before it swelled South African landfills). But the outcome wasn't worth the effort or the resources spent.
In the case of energy, the final text bowed to American pressure to reject the setting of any targets or timetables for increasing the fraction of the world's energy supplied by renewable energy. The summit also failed to reach an agreement to phase out the $200 bn (£127 bn) that the world's taxpayers now give to such technologies as coal and nuclear power, that are neither clean nor affordable.
Despite disappointing diplomacy, the world summit was important. It will be remembered for bringing together not only the same officials who have failed for years to take action, but also the societal actors who actually make a difference: civil society and business.
Thousands of members of civil society journeyed to "Joburg" to lobby government delegates. But far more met among themselves and created new alliances to carry forward the work that they have always done: bringing real development and health care to the poor, implementing programmes to protect the world's wild places, and installing solar and other renewable energy devices, water treatment facilities, and programs to promote environmental and social justice.
With governments unwilling to agree on targets or regulatory frameworks, many are now looking to businesses to fill the leadership void. The reaction from business circles was perhaps best captured by Phil Watts, chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell, who said: "Shell now sees that environmental and social responsibility are essential allies to business success." He said business "should embrace sustainable development and corporate social responsibility not just as a force for good, but because it is to our clear competitive advantage".
For the first time, UN secretary general Kofi Annan called on governments, NGOs, and the private sector to work together to address the complex issues. Numerous partnerships, both among businesses and between businesses and other sectors of society, were announced at the summit, and the groundwork laid for many others. Governments and civil society are demonstrating an increasing willingness to pool their resources. Perhaps the most unlikely and exciting partnership to emerge is an alliance announced between Greenpeace and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to pressure governments to create a global framework on climate change.
Clearly the pressure is on for businesses to make substantial commitments and to take measurable action, not just practise greenwashing and PR spin. In the wake of the summit, people are likely to demand that corporations be held increasingly accountable for the impact of their activities on all stakeholders, whether partners, shareholders, employees, or members of the community. NGOs called on companies to engage with all sectors of society and to form partnerships to find creative solutions.
For businesses willing to embrace this emerging new reality, there is a tremendous opportunity to build their franchise while simultaneously making a positive contribution to the world. Indeed many businesses presented case studies showing how a commitment to sustainability had conferred greater profits, bolstered public goodwill, generated positive publicity, increased brand equity, increased shareholder value, and reduced liability.
In this sense, the world summit was a huge success. The truth is that governments are unsure how to solve the sorts of problems that this summit was called to consider. It is citizens and companies who tackle these challenges and make the world a better place. The governments of the world could have helped.
They did not. But in today's world, more than half of the hundred largest economic entities are no longer countries, they are companies. And in this same world, civil society can destroy the brand value of any company that it identifies as irresponsible. So in a way, the failure of the world's governments to implement sustainable development is no surprise: they no longer run the world.
Clearly, in this increasingly global world there is a crying need for a new form of governance; one that gives a real seat at the table to the representatives of business and civil society. Together with governments we can all establish the mechanisms of sustainable development and commit to implementing them in transparent, accountable, and democratic ways. That did not happen at "Joburg". But it will at a world summit one day. And that will be a summit to write home about.
· L Hunter Lovins is the director of the Natural Capitalism Academy
