CEOs urge leaders to move cautiously ahead of Copenhagen

Gathering at a conference in London today on the role of the consumer and business in combating climate change, leaders of some of the world’s largest corporations today sent a message to world leaders in advance of the upcoming Copenhagen climate summit in December: Private business is leading the way in sustainability, don’t punish growth by stifling innovation.

But exactly how each company defined sustainability and innovation was vastly different, according to The Guardian.

Sir Terry Leahy, the chief executive of Tesco, told the conference that fighting climate change was now the number one priority of his company, and announced that his multibillion-dollar business would be zero-carbon by 2050. “Survival is the issue, not just for our business, but the entire planet,” he said.

Taking a different tack altogether was Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent who told conferees, “I think it is a fallacy to think growth and a sustainable world are mutually exclusive.”

And while that may be the case, Mr. Kent did not back up his words with promises of real action like Tesco’s Leahy, rather he essentially promised more slick marketing and large-scale greenwashing.

Kent said that as much as 70% of the company’s future advertising would have an environmental focus, reported The Guardian.

Sure, Coca-Cola was ranked the 36th greenest company in the U.S. for 2009 by Newsweek, but is ‘environmentally focused advertising’ now an acceptable definition of sustainable business practice?

It is a good thing that many large corporations are on board with sustainability programs and massive systems restructuring, but it is hard to accept market-as-usual approach to consumerism and marketing. Not to mention the fact that while some companies lead the way in sustainability initiatives, most lag way behind.

Growth and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, but growth has got to be defined than ballooning marketing budgets.

Image via JoelZimmer