Addressing the Conflict Between Growth and Sustainability

By Invitation Only

Date and Time

September 24, 2024
9:00 am-11:00 am EDT

Location

New York City

Generating equitable economic progress delivered within planetary boundaries is one of the greatest global challenges. To achieve this goal, there is a clear need to shift our economy, society, and most businesses away from models that rely on infinite consumption of finite resources. Currently, even the most purpose-oriented businesses struggle with reconciling business growth imperatives with planetary boundaries, thus jeopardizing delivery of their own corporate sustainability targets, and eventually their core business objectives. 

Business action is critical to tackle this challenge and achieve crucial global climate, nature, and social equity global goals.   

There is a timely opportunity to shape an economy that delivers, sustainably, for all people, meeting human needs, meeting societal expectations, and enabling new ways of doing business and living that are resource efficient, aspirational and equitable. Early mover companies are acknowledging this failure but lack viable solutions: the purpose of business, investors, and policies will need to evolve in a manner that ensures a just transition to new models. 

BSR and Forum for the Future are joining forces to bring together large enterprises, civil society, worker representatives, policymakers, and academia to co-create solutions to address the conflict between the business imperative to deliver volume sales growth and the sustainable development agenda.  

During this co-creation workshop BSR and Forum for the Future will share a proposed solution and facilitate a conversation among participants around: 

• The barriers to action and the opportunity to address the growth-sustainability tension, building on BSR and Forum for the Future’s work to date.  
• The needed solutions to address this challenge, by discussing our intended key objectives and sharing initial examples  

Participants will have an opportunity to engage with BSR, Forum for the Future and all other attendees to advance a shared understanding of challenges and solutions for business to advance this topic with practical, implementable answers.  

Places are limited and by invitation only. Please reach out to your contacts at BSR or Forum for the Future if interested in participating.  

Scheduled Speakers

• Aron Cramer, President and CEO, BSR
---

Aron Cramer
President and CEO, BSR
San Francisco
---
Aron is recognized globally as a preeminent authority on just and sustainable business. In addition to leading BSR, which has grown substantially throughout his tenure as President and CEO, Aron advises senior executives at BSR’s 300+ member companies and other global businesses and partners on the full spectrum of environmental, social, and governance issues.
Aron joined BSR in 1995 as the founding director of its Business and Human Rights program. He later opened BSR's Paris office in 2002, where he worked until becoming President and CEO in 2004. Aron has served on advisory boards to CEOs at AXA, Barrick Gold, Marks & Spencer, Nike, Recruit Holdings, SAP, Shell, and he serves as a director of the We Mean Business Coalition and RISE.
Aron speaks frequently at leading business and public fora and is widely quoted in top-tier media, such as the Financial Times, Le Figaro (France), The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Axios, and Politico. He is co-author of the book Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World, which spotlights innovative sustainability strategies that enable business success.
Prior to joining BSR, Aron practiced law in San Francisco and worked as a journalist at ABC News in New York. He holds a BA from Tufts University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley.
Close
• Sally Uren, CEO, Forum for the Future