Unchecked Consumption Is the Elephant in the Boardroom

Many businesses measure growth by selling more stuff to more people, and consumer markets are expected to expand in the decades ahead. The world is on pace to exceed 9.5 billion people by 2050, with far fewer living in poverty than today. 

The apparel industry is responsible for 10
percent of the world’s greenhouse gas
emissions and 20 percent of its
industrial water pollution. 

Thanks to the rapid industrialization of developing countries like China, Brazil and India, 3 billion people are projected to join the global middle class in the next 15 years alone. These demographic shifts represent both a human development victory and an enormous business opportunity for those companies positioning to meet the needs of added consumers.

But there’s a catch: Current consumption patterns, even assuming efficiency improvements, put the global economy on an impossible trajectory. We would use three times as many natural resources by 2050 compared to what we used in 2000—and what we are using today has already exceeded planetary boundaries.

Yet few, if any, companies are fundamentally rethinking the models by which they meet customer needs. This is the elephant in the boardroom—uncomfortable and unmentioned because the solution requires radical change.

Read the World Resources Institute story - “Unchecked Consumption Is the Elephant in the Boardroom.”