How do you define a ‘net positive’ business?
A net positive business is one that improves the well-being of every stakeholder it touches, at every level — through its products, its value chain, its operations and its work on social issues. For the last 50 years, the private sector has embraced an obsession with short-term profits and shareholder primacy, and the results have been extreme. Unfortunately, nobody is going to come along and save us: As my co-author Andrew Winston and I say in the book, “We broke it, and now we have to own it.” Business leaders are now responsible not just to their own companies and investors, but to all of society.
Looking ahead, one thing is certain: Taking steps to mitigate the damage will be cheaper than dealing with the consequences of not acting. This is a journey that every business must join, led by a clear North Star: To align with our fellow human beings and the planet earth.
Is net positive the same as ‘net zero’?
It’s actually much broader. Being ‘carbon positive’ or ‘carbon negative’ (confusingly, they mean the same thing) is one element of addressing climate change, but it doesn’t fully address the action that is required. That approach
