8 Business And Sustainability Trends That Will Define 2018

For 800 years, the University of Cambridge has fostered leadership, ideas and innovations that have benefited and transformed societies. The University now has a critical role to play to help the world respond to a singular challenge: how to provide for as many as nine billion people by 2050 within a finite envelope of land, water and natural resources, whilst adapting to a warmer, less predictable climate.

The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) is committed to empowering business and policy leaders to make the necessary adjustments to their organisations, industries and economic systems in light of this challenge. In support of that mission, they’ve developed Rewiring the Economy, a ten-year plan to lay the foundations for a sustainable economy. An integral part of that plan is regularly educating business leaders on the latest sustainability trends.

The trends in this briefing were identified by 40 CISL Directors, Senior Associates and Ambassadors, supported by a survey of the wider CISL Network, a global Network of 8,000 senior leaders and leading practitioners representing every industry on every continent.

The 2018 Sustainability Trends Briefing from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) highlights the key developments that business leaders need to anticipate and respond to.

This Sustainability Trends Briefing covers the following trends:

• Volatility is the new normal
• Sustainability to shape the face of business
• Enduring loss and damage from extreme weather
• Human versus machine
• China and the global shift to the East
• The end of an era for plastics
• A watershed year for transparency
• Life after coal

CISL and GetSmarter have produced this briefing to aid business leaders in driving meaningful change, hoping to assist in creating a sustainable global economy.

CISL and GetSmarter have also collaborated to offer the Business Sustainability Management online short course. The course offers working professionals across all levels of leadership the opportunity to argue for, strategise and implement sustainable change in their business. Successful completion of the course also affords access to the CISL International Alumni Network, an 8,000-strong community of leaders and sustainability practitioners focused on making a change for good.

Learn how to make meaningful change based on global sustainability trends

Find out more about the CISL Business Sustainability Management online short course.

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