Does this matter? Of course it does. Not simply because of the missed research opportunities (there are plenty of other actors happy to do the work) but because many of today's students are being taught by people who haven't a clue about what is going on in the real world. Some cynics will say 'it was ever thus', but surely the sustainable development agenda is simply too important to be left in the hands of the unconnected, the out of touch, the (dare I say it?) incompetent.

Luckily, many students have access to the Internet and can bypass the inadequacy of their instructors. They are increasingly well served. So, for example, students wanting to test themselves against the sustainability agenda can take the 'Sustainable Business Exam' at http://challenge.bi.no/sbc/sbc_start.htm and their tutors should maybe take the test, too. Meanwhile, back in the somnolent groves of academe, the triple bottom line (TBL) agenda now confronting business scarcely disturbs the radar screen. Yet major companies among them 'heavies' like BP and Shell and even erstwhile 'heroes' like Nike are now embracing the TBL. True, most are doing so because of much-publicised controversies focusing on issues like environmental impact, human rights or child labour.

Yet in doing so they are acknowledging that in today's world companies need to perform not only against the traditional financial bottom line, but also against a three-fold set of stakeholder expectations, viz. economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity. We are talking about a global revolution in business culture. A revolution that is likely to be much more profound in its impacts than the quality revolution. And one that has decades still to run.

Some of the ideas that are central to the sustainability debate would have been branded as dangerously seditious even a few years back. Indeed, companies like Exxon and organisations like the Global Climate Coalition still see sustainable development as little more than a green-painted Trojan Horse. Once it is allowed through the corporate walls, they fear, it will all-too-likely disgorge a mutant form of socialism or even communism. But even some of the most loudly 'contrarian' corporations are now changing their tune.

If you watch what leading US research groups like the World Resources Institute are doing in this field, it is clear that many of their corporate partners now understand the TBL agenda and are now working hard to work out ways of measuring progress. Given where US corporations started from, this is progress indeed. But to make sustainable development happen will require scientific, technological, economic, socio-cultural and political effort on a scale dwarfing that of the race for the Moon in the 1960s. Senator John Glenn's recent reprise of his first trip around the globe is a timely reminder of that.

Yes, we do see some university academics paying attention. Yes, some of them are getting involved in international groupings like the Greening of Industry Network. But aside from a few honourable exceptions, the academic world seems to be retiring from the fray. Is this an inevitable trend? Is anyone trying to reverse it? If so, please stop hiding your light under a bushel!

John Elkington,
SustainAbility Ltd,
49-53 Kensington High Street,
London W8 5ED, UK
T: +44 (0)171 937 9996
F: +44 (0)171 937 7447
Email: elkington@sustainability.co.uk

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