#43: New SCI Podcast – The System Change Opportunity: Essential and Profitable

A new podcast on the Fifty Faces podcast series presents the System Change Investing (SCI) opportunity. It also discusses the SCI creator's sustainability career path and how that led to a focus on system change.

Using investing to drive system change is a very large opportunity for the capital markets, business and broader society. Around the world, many environmental, social, economic and political problems are growing rapidly. We are in a time of rapid change, growing turbulence, and rising uncertainty. Current responsible investing and sustainability approaches are not coming close to resolving (or even slowing) major challenges.

Turbulent Times

As often occurs during turbulent times, there is a reversion to old ideas and strategies. The incoming US administration has said it will scale back environmental and social protections built up over the past 50 years.

Some companies like fewer regulations. Allowing businesses to harm environmental and social systems more can increase profits and short-term investment returns. But this approach ignores reality. We cannot systematically degrade these systems without consequence.

Sophisticated, visionary companies understand that there is no business, economy or capital markets without the environment and society, and that these cannot be protected without system change.

Companies largely do what economic and political systems demand. They do not harm the environment and society because they lack empathy and intelligence. They do it because flawed, reductionistic systems unintentionally demand it.

These systems are the root causes of climate change and other major challenges. Improving them is by far the most important action needed to protect business, investors and society.

Removing environmental and social protections will accelerate societal and economic decline. It makes the need for system change even more pressing.

In the absence of effective government action, the corporate and financial sectors are the only segments of society with the power and resources needed to drive timely system change, and thereby protect themselves and society.

System Change

Evolving human systems into sustainable forms is highly complex. This complexity is a main barrier to system change. Concerns about losing the extensive profits provided by current systems is another major barrier.

Sophisticated companies understand that system change is inevitable, and highly likely in the shorter-term. Continuing to profit by harming the environment and society will not be an option for very much longer. The only options are voluntary or involuntary change.

Involuntary change (collapse) will wipe out many companies and investments. Voluntary change is the only business-protecting option. SCI provides practical and profitable investment strategies for driving system change.

For more information, listen to the Fifty Faces SCI podcast or visit our website SystemChangeInvesting.com