查尔斯王子在伦敦商学院英语演讲稿
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am fully aware that you have been
locked in here since or something and I suspect that you
have been talked to furiously all that time. The last thing you
want is another lecture when most of you are probably used to
giving lectures rather than having to listen to them. But if
I may say so, I am so delighted to see so many leading figures
from the business schoolcommunity here today and also to hear
you briefly discuss such an important topic. Needlessto say, I
really am immensely grateful to all of you for taking the time
to join this meeting –even if at the end of the day, it is only
out of curiosity! In particular, I would like to thank Sir
Andrew Likierman, who was involved in my Accountingfor
Sustainability Project at its inception, and of course, the
London Business School for kindlyhosting us all, particularly in
its anniversary year. And I also wanted to say ‘many happy
returnsof the day'. I understand that 50 years ago, the
London Business School was established based on thenotion that
management needed to be professionalized in the same way as law
andaccountancy, in order to improve Britain's economic
performance. And with over 150,000students passing through its
doors since then, it is clear that the London Business School
andother business schools have played an important role in
shaping global economic success. Anniversaries are a time not
just to look back, but also, perhaps to look ahead and
considerwhat the future may bring. It is therefore perhaps
fitting that we are here in LBS's 50thanniversary year as we
look ahead towards what the next 50 years will bring, and the
kind ofknowledge, understanding and skills that leaders are
likely to need in order to anticipate andrespond effectively to
the challenges ahead. In 50 years' time, our children and
grandchildren will be facing a radically different world.
Thewarning signs are already here for all to see. Whilst we live
in a time of great wealth andopportunity for many, it is also a
time dogged by increasing turbulence and a ratherterrifying
combination of risks – persistent poverty and a population of
seven billion that isstill rising unsustainably fast; the
depletion and over-consumption of finite natural resources;and
the very real and accumulating risk of catastrophic climate
change. The recent 2019 report from the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change makes clear thatthe ‘severe' – as they
put it – ‘pervasive and irreversible consequences' of climate
change, ifleft unchecked, could be beyond our capacity to
rectify. Those consequences include more ofwhat we are already
seeing in the form of extreme weather events that damage
ourinfrastructure and disruptive weather patterns that undermine
our ability to feed a growingpopulation. Now, Ladies and
Gentlemen, I know only too well that there are siren voices on
all sides tellingus that this is all total rubbish, dreamt up by
half-baked environmentalists bent on destroyingcapitalism as we
know it, but it must surely be the case that, in the future,
successfulorganizations will actually be those which, according
to best risk-management practice, haveredefined their business
models to try and adapt to this very different world. It seems
clear tome that those who find ways to use natural resources in
a sustainable, and “circular” way, withnothing going to waste,
will find themselves uncovering new sources of innovation,
reducingtheir risks and increasing their competitive advantage.
Even more, success will be defined bythose who have shown real
leadership in helping us to change trajectory and avoid the
worstoutcomes that, at present, seem so likely. And funnily
enough, thinking about the circular economy, I was looking at
just one or twoexamples from companies that have started to move
in this direction. One of which is RoyalDutch State Mines, and I
met the CEO a few of years ago called Feike Sijbesma, a
remarkableman, that I think Polly introduced me to. And it is an
intriguing example that he wascourageous and robust enough to
move his company out of a profitable fossil fuel
basedpetrochemical business into biotechnology and life science
and animal nutrition products. But to do all this, the
company had to escape from the conventional straitjacket of
short-termism and close the door on those investors who refused
at the time, to take the long termview. And now, at the end of
the day, Royal DSM is delivering some of the highest yields
thecompany has ever seen to those investors prepared to look
towards the long term. And one other brief example is
Phillips, for instance, it is very interesting what they are
doingnow with their lighting systems, you know probably better
than I. Phillips says they can reach more customers if they
retain ownership of the lightingequipment as customers don't
have to pay high upfront costs and Phillips ensures the
soundenvironmental management of end-of-life lighting equipment.
So basically, it is a new way forcustomers to achieve their
sustainability goals: high lighting performance, high
energyefficiency, and a low materials footprint. Over the
three years leading up to 2019, Phillips' growth in products
with a strong sustainabilityfocus was times faster than the
average growth of the company. Just two examples, alwaysa good
thing to give examples, I think. But Ladies and Gentlemen,
after the financial crash in 2019 there were many to be
heardsaying it was increasingly clear that business as usual was
simply not an option. However, oldhabits tend to die very hard
and now we need to innovate like never before, and to
acceleratethe pace of learning and change if we are to have a
chance of a future we might want. Buttoday's financial system
does not actively reward long-term thinking, as we have been
hearing,nor does it recognize the dependency of our economic
success on the health and stability ofour communities and of the
natural environment, all too often regarded as an
irrelevantdistraction. Now, I suspect it is only too obvious
that I am not any sort of financial or business expert, butit
occurred to me some 15 years ago that many of the traditional
tools and techniques forfinance and accounting – particularly
for sustainability – that word which is much used – wereno
longer fit for purpose. And this leads to sub-optimal decision-
making by companies,governments and investors. That is why,
after an initial conversation with the thenComptroller and
Auditor-General of the National Audit Office, I set up my
Accounting forSustainability Project over ten years ago, with
its CFO and Accounting Bodies LeadershipNetworks, and why,
Ladies and Gentlemen, through the Cambridge Institute for
SustainabilityLeadership, I launched ClimateWise for the
insurance sector, the Banking EnvironmentInitiative and the
Investment Leaders Group – all designed to work with the
research, financeand accounting community to support a
fundamental shift towards business models thatdrive a
sustainable economy. I know that for many finance
professionals, “sustainability” is a term that immediately
suggeststhe kinds of measures that frustrate robust decision-
making and the maximization of too often,
sustainability is seen as a “nice-to-have”, with no
requirement for a seat at theboardroom table. This really is I
would have thought, a very short-sighted and outdated view!More
and more leading businesses are recognizing that addressing
environmental and socialissues systematically is not only
necessary, but delivers improved commercial returns. Thebottom
line is that sustainable business equals good business. Many of
the companies that myinitiatives work with – for instance,
organizations such as Unilever, Adidas, Royal DSM and theCrown
Estate – are proving this everyday with projects that deliver
strong commercial andsustainability returns, and with innovative
tools and techniques used for decision-making,from capital
expenditure appraisals to managing risk. And investors who are
integratingenvironmental, social and governance issues into
their decision-making are starting to seesimilar results.
Indeed, a literature review commissioned by Cambridge's
Investment LeadersGroup found a number of studies that deliver
robust, causal evidence in favour of the case forresponsible
investment. It found that environmental and social factors
appear to add value notjust through lower firm-level risk, but
also through lower cost of capital. For what it is worth, I
have long been convinced that business schools have a
fundamentallyimportant role to play in all of this, both through
their research and their teaching, which is whyI am so glad you
are all here today. You, Ladies and Gentlemen, are ideally
placed to challengeestablished precepts and provide new thinking
that will help organizations to improve theirmanagement of, and
accounting for, social and environmental issues. But, above all,
no one isbetter placed to translate that thinking into the
education you offer to the next generation ofbusiness leaders,
equipping them with the understanding and skills they need for
thisuncertain future. This is why, back in 2019, we arranged
a gathering for Deans from leading business schools,together
with some of the leading companies of the day, to explore just
how much help thecompanies felt they were getting, and how well
MBA programmes were addressing some ofthese complex
sustainability issues. Well, I'm afraid we didn't get very far,
as Polly Courticewill confirm! Frankly, it was all a bit
embarrassing. The business schools said they were doing
anexcellent job, all things considered, but the companies
disagreed. So we reached something of astalemate at the end of
the day! Fortunately, even then, there were some notable
exceptionsto the rule in the business school community, and my
own Business & SustainabilityProgramme, which I established at
Cambridge 21 years ago, has been on hand to give nearly4,000
business leaders an intensive guide on how to find a convergence
between profitabilityand sustainability. But Ladies and
Gentlemen, it is your bad luck that Jessica Fries and Polly have
encouraged meto try again! So I was relieved to hear from you
this afternoon that there has been at leastsome progress since
then, often in the face of some quite formidable challenges! It
is clearthat new and important research is emerging from many
quarters, including that relatingdirectly to finance and
accounting. And it is good to hear that the MBA programme
hasdeveloped considerably to meet the widening demands and
requirements of future businessleaders. A growing number of
business schools are offering specialist modules on
sustainabilityissues, although I gather these are more often
than not offered as optional electives or areincluded as part of
ethics teaching. Elsewhere there has been progress too. The work
that A4Shas conducted with the professional accounting bodies to
integrate sustainability into theaccounting syllabus, and the
work that the CFA Institute has started to do in relation
tofinancial analysis, shows that real progress is possible.
But, Ladies and Gentlemen, is all this enough? And why on earth
is it taking so long to get themessage through? As business
schools, are you truly tapping into the brilliant intellects at
yourdisposal, and developing the innovation, creativity and
breadth of understanding that yourMBA students will need in
order to be to be effective leaders in an already dangerous
anduncertain world? Is the notion of environmental limits and
the enhancement of communitycapital a recurring theme in your
finance and accounting, marketing, corporate strategy
andmanufacturing modules? How often, for instance, do key words
such as population, poverty,climate change, ecosystems and
biodiversity, human rights, Africa, mega-cities, and
theempowerment of women appear in your lectures or academic
publications? Are your young,untenured academics promoted and
rewarded for doing work that relates to sustainability,ethics or
society? In short, are your business schools really in touch
with the issues that willincreasingly have an impact on the
future viability of businesses, or should wise and forward-
thinking companies be looking elsewhere to develop their
executives for the future? Ladies and Gentlemen, your
business schools are rooted in both academia and industry and
Ibelieve you have a very special role to play. Society needs to
be able to look to you withconfidence for some of the best
thinking and the most enlightened education, to secure thefuture
for our children and our children's children. So, if I may
just add this in at the end, my challenge to all of you is to
build on what you aredoing already and find ever better ways to
integrate sustainability into every aspect of yourresearch and
teaching. Of course, I understand the attraction of tried and
tested methods, butimproving on ‘business as usual' with
conventional case studies and metrics is absolutely notgoing to
be sufficient! So I hope, hope you will have the courage to step
out of the comfortzone of the current paradigm and ask the
really difficult questions about what it will take tosucceed in
business in the next 50 years. Why not think about how you
might lead the way? Could you for instance, move ahead of
thepack with courage and vision, radically transforming your
curriculum and conducting new andinteresting research in this
field, despite all the countervailing pressures that
reinforcebusiness as usual? Just think for a minute, you could
even work with some of my organizationslike A4S, the CISL
(Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership) and my
InternationalSustainability Unit in order to help you with this
transformation! We do it already with lots of businesses
anyway, and the capital markets, to try and addressthe points
you were making if I may say so. And finally, Ladies and
Gentlemen, to all current business school students – and to
those whoare deciding where to study – ask yourself, is your
chosen business school really at the end ofthe day, going to
equip you to be the kind of leader that I suggest is so badly
needed for thenext 50 years? Because nothing less will do.
