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thought leaders

The Globe and Mail has sought out columns from thought leaders in Western Canada, people whose influence is shaping debate, but whose names may not be widely recognized.

There's a lot of talk of the need for a new economic system – capitalism 2.0 in shorthand – based on shared values, inclusive wealth accounting and social equity. Ironically, the advocacy effort to harmonize interests, establish ethical markets and trustworthy industries is more conflict-ridden than collaborative.

Every major industry project – and we have many examples in Canada – raises sustainability issues, from carbon emissions to safe operations and project end-of-life community impacts. Social media bring a larger body of knowledge and countless, often contradictory, sources of information to our fingertips. This makes us acutely aware of development conflicts and ecological crises near and far. Public anxiety rises as industry projects are slowed by debates over precautionary principles and expected social cost-benefits.

What's perplexing is that voluntary steps taken or promised by industry that go beyond legal and regulatory compliance are viewed so skeptically. The past decade in British Columbia makes it abundantly clear that our industries and communities have much common ground.

Regardless of workplace, we share watersheds, airsheds, agricultural reserves, forests, subsoil minerals, and the schools, hospitals, roads, homes, jobs and rich community life made possible by our collective efforts. Every population centre depends, directly or indirectly, on natural resources. Thus the question should be how to create a shared industry vision and pathway toward a cleaner economy that acknowledges the continued importance of resource inputs.

It's significant, then, that influential voices such as Harvard business professors Michael Porter and Mark Kramer, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney have recently weighed in to call for a more inclusive form of capitalism.

In an article published in 2011, Profs. Porter and Kramer observed: "the more business has begun to embrace corporate responsibility, the more it has been blamed for society's failures … companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together."

Earlier this year, Mr. Bloomberg, along with former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Schapiro, took the helm of the U.S. Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, vowing to improve industry transparency through material sustainability disclosure. Meanwhile, calling environmental degradation a tragic embarrassment, Mr. Carney told delegates at a London conference in May: "We simply cannot take the capitalist system, which produces such plenty and so many solutions, for granted … prosperity requires not just investment in economic capital, but investment in social capital."

The chorus of international bankers, business leaders and academics is helpful, but actions closer to home offer more tangible signs of a sustainability-led shift toward capitalism 2.0.

In 2012, the British Columbia Business Corporations Act was amended to introduce a Community Contribution Company (C3) with regulations taking effect in 2013. Similar to regimes in the U.K. and the U.S., it is the first hybrid business structure of its kind in Canada and enables B.C. entrepreneurs to pursue social goals, allocating 60 per cent of their business profits to that mission and providing investment opportunities to like-minded financiers. At a municipal level, the City of Vancouver is tackling urban environmental performance in its Greenest City Action Plan. City leaders have specified that all new buildings, from 2020 onward, be carbon neutral in operations and that energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of existing buildings be reduced by 20 per cent over 2007. Clearly, B.C. policy-makers are stepping up to remove obstacles to inclusive capitalism.

Similarly, B.C. industry leaders and socio-environmental groups are working together on new approaches to shared resources. The Great Bear Rainforest Agreement, forged out of conflict between forestry stakeholders, was signed this January and serves as a global benchmark for collaboration in other high conservation regions and resource industries. The Fraser Basin Council has helped deliver more than 100 initiatives across the province through sustainability partnerships in every sector. And the Cowichan Watershed Board has drawn together First Nations, industry, residents, recreational users, regulators and conservationists in a model of co-operative ecosystem management that is instructive to other natural resource-rich communities.

Diverse B.C. businesses – Catalyst Paper, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Teck Resources, Telus and Vancity Credit Union – are also involved in the Council for Clean Capitalism, a forum of 11 forward-thinking Canadian companies seeking integration of principles that ensure what is economically good for Canada is also good for the environment and society. Each is taking steps toward better sustainability performance, operational and financial transparency and business governance. Together, council members are helping capitalism 2.0 gain traction through support for practical policy changes in green building standards, green financing for public infrastructure and inclusive wealth accounting encompassing all national assets – produced and natural.

LNG referendums, mining and pipeline debates aside, there are plenty of examples that capitalism 2.0 is quietly flourishing in British Columbia, across Canada and the globe with ample fertile ground on which to grow a more satisfying, sustainable and inclusive economic future.

Lyn Brown is managing director with Corporate Knights Inc., a media, research and financial products company focused on clean capitalism. She led the corporate responsibility file at Catalyst Paper until the end of last year. Catalyst and other members of the forest industry worked with environmental groups to agree to ensure 70 per cent of the land base in B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest would be protected. The agreement, signed last January, is awaiting government and First Nations approval.

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