Blue is the New Green! In recent years, calls to replace conventional brown economic development with a lower-carbon green growth model have been growing increasingly loud. But there is a third, more competitive option: a blue economy driven by business-level innovation, rather than top-down policies. The fact is that most environmentally friendly technologies demand significant upfront investment, meaning that “going green” remains a privilege reserved for the few countries that can afford it. After all, governments’ capacity to provide subsidies is limited, and wealthy countries cannot be expected to bear the costs of the uptake of sustainable technologies worldwide. Thus, as the United Nations recently confirmed, more than a billion people worldwide still lack access to reliable, clean, and affordable energy. The blue economy – a concept developed by the Belgian economist Gunter Pauli – is powered less by investment and more by innovation, with a focus on creating jobs, building social capital, and generating multiple cash flows by stimulating entrepreneurship and the development of new business models. The blue economy is centered on the idea that companies should use all available resources and increase efficiency to develop a portfolio of related businesses that benefit both them and society. It is not difficult to discern the potential benefits – for businesses and communities alike – of matching a set of seemingly disparate problems with the efficient use of locally available resources. Companies simply must be willing to develop bold and creative new business models that change the rules of the game. The proliferation of information technology and social media means that it is easier than ever for entrepreneurs to tap into a large pool of finance – not to mention contacts and expertise – from small investors. Of the roughly 500 crowdfunding platforms that now exist, several specifically target clean technologies. If used wisely, such platforms could take up the slack created by governments’ fiscal constraints to facilitate the entrepreneurial innovations needed to build the blue economy. Other increasingly prominent trends – such as collaborative consumption, pay per use, and sharing and leasing models – could offer similarly powerful impetus to these efforts. Given the impracticality – financial and otherwise – of relying on top-down solutions, the creation of a cleaner economy should rely on visionary entrepreneurs who can transform challenges into opportunities. Sustainability begins at the grass roots.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:12:41 +0000
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