In a goose-bumps inducing keynote speech, David Blood, Co-Founder and Senior Partner of Generation Investment Management spoke on the urgent need for sustainable capitalism. To stay below IPCC’s 1.5 degree global warming limit and achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, corporations need to commit to investing for the long run and begin developing business models that internalize externalities in the value chain.

Throughout his speech, Mr. Blood’s passion for sustainable development shined through as he shared his journey from serving as CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management to starting a sustainable investment management firm alongside Al Gore. Through his impressive work experience, he has seen first-hand the inextricable link between business and sustainability, a connection that he emphasized throughout his speech. Mr. Blood highlighted the importance of considering all components of sustainability – environmental, social, and governance – when making business decisions. In fact, Mr. Blood pointed out that sustainability is more than a moral calling; it also makes for a compelling business case. When businesses think long-term and sustainably, robust economies develop.

Towards the end of his speech, Mr. Blood offered a refreshing view on the importance of maintaining hope and a positive view for the future amongst the deluge of negative media coverage. He touched on the need for the sustainability community to reach out to groups that may hold differing opinions in order to get more and more people on board for what will be one of the most important revolutions in human history, the Sustainability Revolution. “It’s up to us – we can do it; we have to do it.”

Written by Razan Mohamed (Western University), Mitchel Selby (University of Toronto) & Melanie Issett (Ivey Business School)