Businesses must focus on sustainability - Advisor

The sustainability advisor to PwC, Mr Will Day has warned that corporate activities were having a serious impact on the world and that it was high time businesses begin to think sustainably.

He said the rapid degradation and depletion of the earth resources, given people and businesses' ability to consume way beyond the planet's capacity to regenerate itself, posed a big threat to life.

Mr Day was speaking at the Ghana Sustainable Business Forum by PwC Ghana, a platform for dialogue and experience sharing of sustainability ideas and initiatives within the private sector.

The forum will serve as a networking platform for solutions to sustainable business challenges and knowledge sharing for collective efforts to address challenges to promote greener growth of the Ghanaian economy.

Speaking on the topic: ‘Collision of Global Megatrends and sustainability,’ Mr Day said the earth’s unique ability to support life is being threatened by unsustainable practices.

He said the cost of the uncontrollable consumption could go into trillions of dollars a year.

He said many natural resources are actually under threat, some of them are more visible than others, and all of them constitute risks to businesses that have supply chains and cited the example of oil, which is estimated, could run out in about 40 years.

Mr Day said it is clear that the world is confronting a warming climate as a result of man's activities and hugely to our input of fossil fuels to the atmosphere as greenhouse gases.

He warned that the next 50 years will bring dramatic change and that every organization needs to prepare for the new context and every business needs to understand what the opportunities and the risks are of the sustainability agenda.

Mr Day said with the global population estimated to grow to about 8.3 billion by 2030, more needs to be done to safeguard energy, water and food to meet the demands of the future generation.

This is because there will be the need for 50 per cent more energy, 40 per cent more water and 35 percent more food. More needs to be done now in all three aspects as food, water and energy interrelate

He urged businesses not to lose focus by committing their efforts on only financial models of operations but also be strategic in including an integrated thinking of the environment, social and governance management within decision-making processes.

Mr Ruediger John, the German Ambassador, said all development activities are directed at sustainability and ownership.

He said companies must take responsibility to ensure sound environmental practices to ensure sustainability.

Mr Daniel Amlalo, the Executive Director, Environmental Protection Agency said there was the need to look at environmental issues concretely to ensure that today’s actions did not compromise the future existence of the next generations.

Various companies took turn at the forum to share their experiences in creating shared value and building business resilience.