Life on Earth for humanity and our ecosystems is at a point of great change. There is much to be learnt about previous great disruptions. The key words are adaptation and transformation. Most international companies operate across multiple social and environmental geographies, so they know this intellectual and practical landscape. And for many governments the challenges of social and environmental justice are also paramount – not least because equitable societies are best for business, and best for human well-being. The Necessary Transition addresses the many transitions taking place around the world: from high- to low-carbon economies, from gross inequality to egalitarianism, from massive human rights abuses to socially just societies, and from high corruption to societies with high social cohesion and integrity.
The Necessary Transition brings together leading international researchers and practitioners to share their knowledge and expertise, and offers answers to many of the pressing questions that must be addressed in the journey towards a sustainable enterprise economy – an absolutely necessary transition for humanity.
Contributors include: Sara Parkin, Founder-Director and Trustee of the UK's Forum for the Future; Bill Champion, Managing Director, Rio Tinto Coal Australia; and Mark Swilling, co-author of Just Transitions and Academic Director of the Sustainability Institute, South Africa.
The key question is: 'Is a transition to a sustainable future possible within the logic of conventional capitalism and 20th-century models of development?' The Necessary Transition provides radical perspectives from varying entry points and is essential reading for academics and practitioners interested in how we plan, speed and scale such necessary transitions.
Foreword Sir Tim Smit, co-founder, The Eden Project Introduction Malcolm McIntosh, Griffith University
Part 1: History and Transition Theory
1. Contested Futures: Conceptions of the Next Long-Term Development Cycle Professor Mark Swilling, Sustainability Institute, Stellenbosch University
2. Radical openness and contextualisation: reflections on a decade of learning for sustainability at the Sustainability Institute, Stellenbosch, South Africa Eve Annecke, Sustainability Institute
3. The Devil is in the Synergy: Exhibiting Transitions at the Hypothetical Museum of the Future Richard Cassels, Director, Climate Leadership
4. Transformations and Translations of Japanese Business Society Kyoko Fukukawa, Bradford University School of Management, and Sunil Manghani, York St John University
Part 2: Re-Seeing The World: Paradigm Shifts and Action
5. Occupation or Action: can they be more or less than the sum of their
parts? Sara Parkin, Founder Director, Forum for the Future
6. The Pillars of Peace: Identifying the Elements that Allow Human Potential to Flourish Steve Killelea, Executive Chairman and Founder, Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP)
7. The Wicked Problem of Developing a New Social Contract for the Necessary Transition Sandra Waddock, Boston College Carroll School of Management
8. Together: The Power of Collaboration Caroline Digby, The Eden Project
9. Boundary Objects, HRM Tools and Change for Sustainability Suzanne Benn, University of Technology, Sydney, and Cathy Rusinko, Philadelphia University
Part 3: Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Business & Finance
10. Climate change is everyone's business Brendan Mackey, Griffith University
11. Industry Transformation through Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Examples in the Apparel and Energy Industries Stefan Schaltegger and Erik G. Hansen, Leuphana Universitat Luneburg
12. Public Policy Processes for Transition to a Sustainable Enterprise Society: The Case of Extractive Industries Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh, Griffith University
13. Sustainable Development: Continuing to Re-earn our Licence to Operate Bill Champion, Managing Director, Rio Tinto Coal Australia
14. Currencies of transition: Transforming money to unleash sustainability Jem Bendell, Institute for Leadership and Sustainability, University of Cumbria, UK and Griffith Business School, Queensland, Australia; and Thomas H. Greco, BeyondMoney.net
Malcolm McIntosh is Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at Griffith University. He was an adviser to the UN Global Compact and was founding editor of the Journal of Corporate Citizenship.