REPOST: How to tell a sustainable business from a greenwashing one: Interview with Paul Gilding

Eco-Business.com recently spoke with environmentalist and author Paul Gilding about his take on sustainable business practices, greenwashing companies, and government policies on climate change.

Paul Gilding, a writer and sustainability advisor based in Australia, is one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Responsible Business Forum in Singapore this November 25 to 26. Image: Sustainable RSM

Paul Gilding has been fighting the good fight for over 40 years, from heading the well-known non-profit Greenpeace International and establishing his own sustainability-focused companies, to working with chief executive officers of many global companies.

The Australian environmentalist is also the author of the internationally acclaimed book called “The Great Disruption”, which discusses the critical juncture that humanity finds itself in, a period of transformation starting with how businesses operate and can grow the economy without adding to further environmental and social impact. Responsible businesses are those that recognise that society’s success is their success, he says. Truly sustainable companies “do good things in order to make money”, he explains, whereas a greenwasher merely does good things after they’ve made money.

Despite the worsening climate conditions and the implications it has on food, water and energy security, Gilding, who lives in southern Tasmania, believes that people will act within this decade, and the impetus to drive this change will be led by the private sector.

This November 25 to 26, he will be a keynote speaker at the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. He will be sharing his insights on the changing economic landscape and how businesses that innovate and act sustainably will triumph.

In this wide-ranging interview, Gilding speaks to Eco-Business about the green economy transformation, human nature and how history has proven we can respond strongly to global crises.  

You’ve spent more than three decades seeking to change the world and yet sustainability is still at its infancy in many parts of the world. What made you start then and why do you continue to do so until now?

I guess it’s the same with what has always been said to me from the science of climate change and risks and resource constraints – that we face very serious issues as humanity. My motivation is not so much protecting the environment – it is needed terribly – but protecting the stability of civilisation and humanity. And to do that we have to protect the ecological systems and the social systems which we depend on. That was my motivation 30 years ago and that is my motivation today. The big difference today is there's so much more urgency.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Saving the environment is Janique Goff's passion. Visit this blog for her thoughts on green initiatives, environmental preservation, and sustainable business.