Voluntary Action?

Much of the corporate sustainability and responsibility agenda has been propelled since the ’90s by the idea that voluntary action on the part of corporations is more effective than regulation. It has been a celebration of market dynamism over moribund regulation, the latter of which would provide only for the lowest common denominator. At any rate, liberalization of markets outpaced our ability to develop an effective governance model to tackle issues such as climate change in a joined up way so many were happy to go a long with an approach that at least delivered incremental improvements.