A Little Chapter on the Big Picture

Businesses are extractive in nature, reliant on the bounty of natural capital and related ecosystem services that our planet offers. Equally perplexing is the role that governance and policy mechanisms play in fostering an enabling environment for sustainable businesses to thrive. The past decades have seen an undeniable shift towards the use of private sector policy innovations, like finance- and market-driven tools and third-party certification schemes, being utilised to address critical issues related to environmental degradation and the overall health of our planet, as articulated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Results have been, at best, mixed in terms of curbing global deforestation, emissions, or environmental degradation, even when these efforts are part of larger governmental or intergovernmental initiatives. One mechanism that shows a good deal of promise is the hybrid organisation. These are businesses with a societal purpose, which focus not on profit maximisation, but on creating a meaningful sustainability orientation.