Last month, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) brought together over 50 board members from major businesses to learn about bringing sustainability into every-day corporate governance. The training, developed in partnership with WBCSD and INSEAD Business School focused on competitiveness, longevity, risk management and future-proofing.
At the start of the conference, Professor Ludo Van der Heyden, Founding Director of the INSEAD Corporate Governance Center said, "Maximizing shareholder value alone is no longer acceptable in the modern world. Boards of Directors have to exercise fiduciary duty of care for the organization they govern, for its performance, but also for the multiple relationships with economic, social, political actors and partners."
"In other words, boards need to act now," he said. This set the tone for the entire event.
In the first official keynote, Lise Kingo, CEO and Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact, kicked off by underlining urgency of sustainable development and what it means for business.