Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

BSR Report, Conference Highlight 'Transparency and Transformation' for Sustainable Business

Nov 4, 2014 8:00 AM ET
Campaign: BSR Conference 2014: Transparency and Transformation

New York, November 4, 2014 /3BL Media/ — BSR’s 2013-2014 Report—launched today to coincide with the opening of the BSR Conference 2014—shares BSR’s vision of the transformative change needed to advance progress on sustainable business. In the BSR Report, “Transparency and Transformation,” BSR explores the most significant trends in transparency that are reshaping business, and provides six ideas for transformation to jumpstart progress on the greatest challenges of our time.

“We are living in a world characterized by radical transparency,” said BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer. “With sustainability as the overarching challenge of the 21st century, transparency allows us to understand the scope and location of myriad challenges and opportunities. Yet for all this potential, transparency alone will not deliver the transformative changes that are sorely needed to build a just and sustainable world.”

In the Report, BSR outlines six changes that every company, and every business leader, can promote to advance transformation—from changing market rules and reforming corporate governance to innovating business models and measuring the things that really matter.

Building on those themes, the BSR Conference—which begins at 5 p.m. today at the Grand Hyatt New York and closes Thursday evening—will bring together 1,000 senior business, civil society, and policy leaders. The Conference features:

  • Global leaders, including Maersk Group CEO Nils S. Andersen, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson, Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, GlaxoSmithKline CEO Sir Andrew Witty, actor and Ebola activist Jeffrey Wright, and the Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye, among others.
  • Inspirational speakers, including Dame Ellen MacArthur, who once held the world record for her solo circumnavigation of the globe and who is now a champion of the circular economy; MIT’s Ethan Zuckerman, who is challenging assumptions and proposing new technology platforms to transform civic engagement; and High Line cofounder Robert Hammond, who reimagined an abandoned railway line as an elevated urban park, revitalizing a New York neighborhood.
  • More than 30 interactive sessions on cutting-edge sustainability issues.
  • Special program tracks on climate change, inclusive economy, transparency, transformation, and other critical topics in sustainable business.
  • Real-time, online coverage integrating news stories, blog posts, tweets, photos, and videos posted at http://bsr14.org; Twitter updates will be available via the hashtag #BSR14, or you can follow BSR: @BSRnews.
  • Livestream of all plenary speakers, available at http://bsr14.org.

For more than 20 years, the BSR Conference has provided the preeminent global platform for sharing best practices, collaborative approaches, and opportunities to advance sustainable business. To receive updates on speakers, sessions, and more, visit http://bsr14.org, or register here.

Members of the media interested in a complimentary press pass to attend the BSR Conference 2014 should contact Eva Dienel, Associate Director of Communications, at edienel@bsr.org.

About BSR
BSR is a global nonprofit organization that works with its network of more than 250 member companies to build a just and sustainable world. From its offices in Asia, Europe, and North America, BSR develops sustainable business strategies and solutions through consulting, research, and cross-sector collaboration. Visit www.bsr.org for more information about BSR’s more than 20 years of leadership in sustainability.