Two days ago I participated in a very interesting Skype Conference call with 7 other people from across the globe. The purpose of this call was to exchange thoughts and experiences of current state of the Sustainability movement in the economic crisis. Not a very happy topic but a very interesting one in these challenging times. We had a wide variety of people with different backgrounds on the call but I was the only one from Europe. So I talked about the European perspective of the state of the Sustainability movement at this point in time.
Here is in essence what I had to say about the current situation here in Europe (I only talked about the countries I live(d) in or know a little bit more about:
United Kingdom (Where I currently live)
A much tougher business environment in the UK is forcing companies to cut their Sustainability budgets and postpone/downsize upcoming projects. Time will tell how this will affect the long term Sustainability movement. But the signs are not good.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland (Where most of my clients are from):
This is a different situation to the UK. The economic downturn is not as bad (yet!) and the Sustainability movement as a whole can still be regarded as underdeveloped. This is a situation where companies will, despite this economic downturn, get new Sustainability projects of the ground and aim to make change happen in their business and stakeholder environment. That is why I am of the opinion that the Sustainability movement is still going to thrive in this part of Europe.
Scandinavia (Where I used to live):
Here we have a different situation again. Scandinavia has long tradition when it comes to Sustainability. That is why I believe that once the first economic problems have been overcome Scandinavia will again be one of the leading regions in Europe to take Sustainability to the next level.
New members of the EU (Where a lot of my friends and colleagues are from):
Here the future of Sustainability is very uncertain. I believe that these new member states such as the Czech Republic and others will have a hard time to keep their Sustainability projects going the way they are being promoted now. In these countries more then in all other EU member states the economic will lead to major cuts in Sustainability projects and engagement of companies in their local community. This is very sad but unavoidable in my opinion.
So where does that leave us? Well the call concluded with a feeling of uncertainty about the future of the Sustainability movement but at the same time (and this was very encouraging to hear) with a feeling that a new beginning is also in sight.
Changing times will also bring new opportunities. And a more sustainable future is an opportunity worth fighting for.
Picture Credit: gilderic
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