Government and business must raise their social conscience

Nicola Nation, Chief Executive - The Ākina Foundation  

One thing COVID-19 showed us is the potential for humanity, in the face of a crisis, to pivot.

We all pivoted — governments, businesses, community organisations, whānau and individuals. In an instant we had new legislation, new products and services, new ways of working, new ways of playing.

The driving force behind the immediate, drastic, and coordinated change was relatively simple: shared values across Aotearoa around protecting human life. Our actions should always align with our values.

So, as we confront the double crisis of climate change and biodiversity loss, we again need to put our values first.

We need a ‘new normal’ that prioritises people, along with the natural world that sustains us all.

The big rub is that our society has become grounded in capitalism — we have turned our lives and our planet into commodities. Business success is measured largely in dollars, clouded as “shareholder return”.

That has led us to our current state: environmental degradation and pollution, accelerating climate change, increasing numbers of people in poverty and deteriorating living conditions for many of our most vulnerable.

We won’t solve these crises with more of the same.

My belief is that the way out is a transformational shift from the Capitalist Economy to a Regenerative Economy guiding our shared purpose, the halls of power, resource flows and relationships. A regenerative economy with new societal norms about value and success.

In April, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a ground-breaking resolution promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) for Sustainable Development, encouraging member states to implement and promote SSE programmes and policies.

SSE is about linking what we strive for and measure in our economy with society and nature. In essence, governments and business must raise their social conscience — re-balance economic, social and environmental objectives.

We need values-based leaders in business and government who are asking at every key decision point: What is the impact on people and natural resources? What do people need and what is our role in that?

This approach means redefining how we do business: rethinking how we understand and measure our impacts, setting a broader range of outcomes for people and nature, committing to net zero emissions targets, and having integrity around delivering those targets. It might mean making hard decisions like producing less, selling less, flying less, or increasing the costs of doing business, such as through product stewardship programmes. It might also mean reducing profits while supporting employees and/or reducing harm. It means redistributing organisational resources to new priorities.

And we need government to be enabling that change, taking away barriers and assisting and celebrating businesses that are making the right choices. That might mean difficult and potentially unpopular decisions on things like ETS inclusions and pricing, taxes on polluters, or subsidies for businesses on the right side of action. We are fortunate that we have bi-partisan agreement in Aotearoa on the Zero Carbon Act and Emissions Reduction Plan, but we need to see the bold action required to deliver on that. We are not seeing it.

And for the citizens in society, we all need to understand and support the challenging decisions that business and government must make — even if that means supporting decisions that could cost some of us more in the short term. That’s hard.

Most of all - we need to be in this together. We need government and business to be getting around the same table, being willing to listen, understand each other, and collaborate for impact.

This is something we’re focused on at The Ākina Foundation. We have a unique position working across the economic spectrum — with community groups, philanthropic organisations, local and central government, small business, social enterprise and major corporates.

We are able to convene organisations from across the spectrum, educating, promoting values-based leadership, celebrating best practice, and shining the light on purpose-led business models such as kaupapa Māori and social enterprises.

Our unique position has enabled us to help major corporates, government agencies and NGOs pause and reassess how they define and measure their outcomes, who they are there to serve, and who they need to work with. It has led to innovative corporate-government-NGO-iwi partnerships like Waka Aronui, where we are identifying problems and delivering solutions that put social and environmental needs first.

Organisations like Ākina, the Aotearoa Circle and their partners will continue to have a critical role in driving collaboration and true partnership.

Great work is already being done by Circle members to develop sector roadmaps, and that is just the start. A massive amount of collaboration, and often compromise, is needed as we move to implementation.

That will come with huge challenges. And after five years at the Ākina Foundation, all of the conversations I’ve been part of, and the changes that I have seen, I remain hopeful.

I’m hopeful because we’re seeing so many businesses doing more, setting environmental and social outcomes, putting sustainability programmes in place, and redistributing more resources towards those programmes.

We are seeing more businesses leading and collaborating through the Aotearoa Circle, Sustainable Business Council, Climate Leaders Coalition and Sustainable Business Network, along with more B-Corps, social enterprises, impact-led businesses and kaupapa Māori enterprises.

And we are seeing more people wanting to work for purpose-led businesses, more customers choosing them, and — despite the disappointment of the recent ‘policy bonfire’ — government policy moving in the right direction (e.g., the recent funding announcement for NZ Steel, which will help remove 1% of Aotearoa NZ’s total emissions).

It reaffirms that right across the economic spectrum in Aotearoa, we have more in common than the differences that separate us. If there’s one thing we can all agree on, we all want a just and sustainable future. 

And when we work together, we can shift the dial.