For the World's Profit
How Business Can Support Sustainable Development
Published on 18. September 2025
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-8157-4101-5 (ISBN)
Description
This edited volume brings together a remarkable array of distinguished corporate, investor, government, academic, and nonprofit perspectives to consider how the targeted pursuit of business profits can better add up to the world's profit, broadly defined.
Chapter authors tackle such questions as how businesses can work more effectively with governments, financial institutions, and civil society to mitigate their own enterprise risk alongside risks to people and planet; how private resources, innovation, and networks can be mobilized to create value in solving major social and environmental challenges; and what types of accountability structures are needed to set boundaries, provide oversight, and create positive incentives for business performance. Their perspectives offer insights into how sustainability can be introduced into business practices, finance, and policymaking in a way that expands market opportunities and accelerates progress towards global sustainable development.
Chapter authors tackle such questions as how businesses can work more effectively with governments, financial institutions, and civil society to mitigate their own enterprise risk alongside risks to people and planet; how private resources, innovation, and networks can be mobilized to create value in solving major social and environmental challenges; and what types of accountability structures are needed to set boundaries, provide oversight, and create positive incentives for business performance. Their perspectives offer insights into how sustainability can be introduced into business practices, finance, and policymaking in a way that expands market opportunities and accelerates progress towards global sustainable development.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
591 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8157-4101-5 (9780815741015)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Homi Kharas is a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at The Brookings Institution. He studies politics and trends influencing developing countries, including aid to poor countries, the emergence of the middle class, and global governance and the G20.
Koji Makino is a visiting fellow at the JICA-Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development and professor at Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Japan.
John W. McArthur is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution. He co-founded and co-chairs the 17 Rooms initiative, an innovative approach to catalyzing ideas and action for the Sustainable Development Goals.
Jane Nelson is the founding director of the Corporate Responsibility Initiative and a senior research fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School and a nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development, Global Economy and Development program, Brookings Institution.
Koji Makino is a visiting fellow at the JICA-Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development and professor at Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Japan.
John W. McArthur is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution. He co-founded and co-chairs the 17 Rooms initiative, an innovative approach to catalyzing ideas and action for the Sustainable Development Goals.
Jane Nelson is the founding director of the Corporate Responsibility Initiative and a senior research fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School and a nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development, Global Economy and Development program, Brookings Institution.
Content
1. Overview, Homi Kharas (Brookings Institution, USA), Koji Makino (Kyoto University, Japan), John W McArthur (Brookings Institution), Jane Nelson (Harvard Kennedy School, Brookings Institution, USA)
Section I: Corporate Actors
2. The Business Case for Mainstreaming Sustainability, Paul Polman (Founder, Net Positive)
3. Strengthening Local Business Linkages to Achieve Development Impact, Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli (Founder, LEAP Africa and Co-Founder, Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition)
4. Embedding Sustainability into Corporate Governance Structures and Management Incentives, Emily Farnworth et al, (University of Cambridge, UK)
5. Corporate Multistakeholder Partnerships to Achieve System-level Impact, Jane Nelson (Harvard Kennedy School, USA)
Section II: Financial actors
6. Scaling Sustainable Finance: The Role of Asset Owners, Sasja Beslik (Chief Investment Strategy Officer, SDG Impact Japan)
7. Creating Incentives for Investors to Tackle Societal Challenges, Carsten Stendevad (Co-CIO for Sustainability, Bridgewater Associates, USA)
8. Aligning Banking with Equitable Finance, Liliana Rojas-Suarez (Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development, USA)
9. Sustainable Stock Exchanges, Nicky Newton-King (Former CEO, Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Director, World Federation of Exchanges)
10. Sustainable insurance, Ekhosuehi Iyahen (Secretary General, Insurance Development Forum)
Section III: Regulators, Standard-Setters and Policymakers
11. Global Sustainability Taxonomies and Reporting Standards- The New Normal, Rick Samans (Director of Research, ILO)
12. The Role of Third-Party Assurance in Sustainability, Tom Seidenstein (Chair, International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board & Warren Maroun, Professor, University of Witswatersrand School of Accountancy, and IAASB board member)
13. SDGs and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Context of Developing Countries: India's Efforts to Achieve the SDGs through the CSR Act, Katsuo Matsumoto (Director General of Infrastructure Engineering Department, JICA)
14. Tackling the Challenge of Transparency in Corporate Lobbying, Alberto Alemanno (Jean Monnet Professor, HEC Paris)
15. Closing the Loop: Moderating Societal SDG Progress and Business Contribution, Ichiro Sato (Executive Senior Research Fellow, JICA-Ogata RI, and Kei Endo, Research Fellow, JICA-Ogata RI)
Section I: Corporate Actors
2. The Business Case for Mainstreaming Sustainability, Paul Polman (Founder, Net Positive)
3. Strengthening Local Business Linkages to Achieve Development Impact, Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli (Founder, LEAP Africa and Co-Founder, Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition)
4. Embedding Sustainability into Corporate Governance Structures and Management Incentives, Emily Farnworth et al, (University of Cambridge, UK)
5. Corporate Multistakeholder Partnerships to Achieve System-level Impact, Jane Nelson (Harvard Kennedy School, USA)
Section II: Financial actors
6. Scaling Sustainable Finance: The Role of Asset Owners, Sasja Beslik (Chief Investment Strategy Officer, SDG Impact Japan)
7. Creating Incentives for Investors to Tackle Societal Challenges, Carsten Stendevad (Co-CIO for Sustainability, Bridgewater Associates, USA)
8. Aligning Banking with Equitable Finance, Liliana Rojas-Suarez (Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development, USA)
9. Sustainable Stock Exchanges, Nicky Newton-King (Former CEO, Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Director, World Federation of Exchanges)
10. Sustainable insurance, Ekhosuehi Iyahen (Secretary General, Insurance Development Forum)
Section III: Regulators, Standard-Setters and Policymakers
11. Global Sustainability Taxonomies and Reporting Standards- The New Normal, Rick Samans (Director of Research, ILO)
12. The Role of Third-Party Assurance in Sustainability, Tom Seidenstein (Chair, International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board & Warren Maroun, Professor, University of Witswatersrand School of Accountancy, and IAASB board member)
13. SDGs and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Context of Developing Countries: India's Efforts to Achieve the SDGs through the CSR Act, Katsuo Matsumoto (Director General of Infrastructure Engineering Department, JICA)
14. Tackling the Challenge of Transparency in Corporate Lobbying, Alberto Alemanno (Jean Monnet Professor, HEC Paris)
15. Closing the Loop: Moderating Societal SDG Progress and Business Contribution, Ichiro Sato (Executive Senior Research Fellow, JICA-Ogata RI, and Kei Endo, Research Fellow, JICA-Ogata RI)