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EDC were pleased to get an invite to present at and be part of a debating panel at the ‘Making Business Sense of Sustainable Development’ conference organised by the Institute of Welsh Affairs and Business Sense in partnership with the Institute of Directors and Cynnal Cymru.
The conference brought together speakers to discuss “What does sustainable development mean in practical terms for the environment, the economy and society more generally?
EDC, Venture Wales, and Transition Towns were asked to deliver a short presentation ‘titled ‘Conflicts between Wales’s Economic, Social and Environmental Aspirations”.
The EDC presentation outlined four key reasons for ongoing conflict between Wale’s environmental, social and economic aspirations:
- sustainable development needs to be over-arching, not an add-on
- we live in a global economy
- over-consumption is not on the agenda
- ecodesign has not been enbraced as good design and therefore good business practice
In the presentation and subsequent debate EDC made a strong case to proactively address these conflicts, focussing on the opportunities for the Welsh economy, people and environment.
This was followed by a lively debate between the panel members and audience, chaired by Peter Davies, Sustainable Development Commissioner, Wales.
A key message stemming from the conference was the importance of working in partnership across all stakeholder groups (from policy makers through to the manufacturers and users) to come up with realistic and practical sustainable solutions.
Download a copy of Making Business Sense of Sustainable Development conference programme.
Download a copy of EDC's conference presentation.
12 June 2008
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