Zero Impact Isn't Enough: Going 'Net Positive' for Global Sustainability

When it comes to assessing the impact of business practices on the environment, the bar is being raised. Mere sustainability is no longer enough: now it’s all about becoming ''net positive.'' The idea isn't new, but has recently taken off with establishment of the Net Positive Project. It's the product of a collaboration among Business and Social Responsibility (BSR), Forum for the Future and the Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE), based at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. On this episode, we speak with two principals behind the effort: Eric Olson, senior vice president of BSR, and Zoe Le Grand, principal sustainability adviser to Forum for the Future. They explain how the project intends to promote net-positive activities, which companies are already on board, and how supporters plan to attract additional participants. Currently there's no multinational that can claim a net-positive impact on the environment, society and the global economy. But such an entity isn't that far in the future, according to Olson and Le Grand.