Paulo Itacarambi, executive director of the Ethos Institute, talks about the 2008 International Conference


2008 will be full of novelties to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Ethos Institute. The first one is the International Conference, which will be more creative, playful and interactive. In this interview, Paulo Itacarambi, executive director of the Ethos Institute and conference coordinator, talks about the innovations expected for the conference and about the themes on which the movement will focus in 2008.

Ethos Institute: What will the 2008 International Conference be like in the year Ethos celebrates its 10th anniversary?
Paulo Itacarambi: The 2008 edition of the Ethos Institute International Conference will be a lot different from the previous ones. To start with, there will be five events to mark the 10th anniversary of the Ethos Institute. Besides the 2008 International Conference itself, we are going to have an event to celebrate the 10th anniversary, the first Sustainable Technologies Show, an exhibition on the ten last years of the corporate social responsibility movement, and the meeting of the Ethos Institute’s International Advisory Board. Although each event targets a specific audience, they will take place simultaneously. The idea is to make these audiences mingle. With this in mind, we have chosen the Anhembi Convention Center to host next year’s conference. The new venue allows the creation of a new format for the meeting, which this time can be more playful and interactive. During the conference, there are simultaneous activities going on. We say that there is another conference behind the official one. In 2008 all these activities will be integrated into the official program. At the end of the event, we intend to present to the Brazilian authorities a set of public policy and regulation proposals for a socially responsible market. These proposals will be articulated with the companies engaged in the CSR movement. That means a huge quality improvement, for we will expand the discussion from socially responsible companies to a socially responsible market.

EI: That means the 2008 International Conference will have socially responsible market as its core theme. What is the relevance of discussing this issue?
PI: In order to achieve a true sustainable development, people must change their social attitude and their relationship with the environment and the organizations. It is imperative to develop a sustainability culture, a large portion of which is linked to the business culture. Therefore, the market practices must change. In this sense, the way companies behave and the self-regulation mechanisms that foster this behavior are very important. These mechanisms must also be aligned with the regulation that sets forth the standards for their operations. Some changes should be the result of companies’ initiatives, for I believe all of them go through a learning process. At the same time, when a large number of initiatives come up and some practices set the standard for others, there should be a regulation so that the whole set of initiatives will have guiding parameters. In addition, there should be a set of programs and public policy that can gather the companies that are in this movement as allies. The public procurement, for example, must be sustainable so as to strengthen the market for sustainable products. There must be policies to fund innovations for the sustainability, whether through the BNDES or the Finep or through specific public policy programs, either from the federal government or local or state administrations. This cultural change – an education for sustainability – can be developed in the regular education (from elementary to higher education). And the government can influence the business and graduation programs so that they include education for sustainability. Therefore, I believe that building a socially responsible market demands actions within the scope of public policy, companies and organizations that define market self-regulation mechanisms.

EI: Besides these two new themes – sustainable public procurement and education for sustainability – would you mention other relevant themes of the 2008 International Conference?
PI: When we discuss sustainability, we need at least to work on some critical variables both for business and the society. Greenhouse gas emissions, waste production and energy consumption are examples of key points that will be discussed. All these aspects, present in the foundations of business and the market and that are regarded as sustainability factors of society, are going to be thought over in this conference. We are going to discuss sustainable cities, for example, the situation of the Amazon… There is a movement in the Brazilian society, mostly represented by the Fórum Amazônia Sustentável, that pursues concrete commitments for sustainable coexistence in that environment. The idea is to create or strengthen sustainable production practices, value the region’s resources for the benefit of the local population, which has been preserving the Amazon. We are going to discuss how to face the threats to the sustainability of the Amazon, and how we can create there a new civilization pattern. Other issues to be discussed are the agribusiness and the civil construction, for example. In other words, this conference will seek to address critical variables in activities and sectors that are key for business and for a sustainable society.

EI: The theme sustainability is quite worn out, and many times misused. For the conference target audience, what will be the contribution and the major benefit of the debate in the event?
PI: First of all, I believe the society has been increasingly demanding commitment from organizations. We usually say that we are defining new obligations to be performed by the companies, so as to hold them actually responsible for the effects of their actions on the society. I believe this is already clear both to business organizations and to citizens. Also, there is a consensus that the climate changes stem from human activities, especially the economic ones. The growing inequality that generates a serious unsustainability in society is the result of the way we are carrying out our economic activities, our consumption and our production. The loss of social cohesion values such as trust, integrity and solidarity have a lot to do with the way we are using up the natural resources. Our consumption-oriented way of life, exacerbated by mass consumption, is one of the factors that have led to the deterioration of our values. So the first corporate social responsibility is to make a sustainable management of one’s business. Companies must know the reach of their activities and manage their effects, seeking to address each variable so as to ensure the sustainability of their business. They are also responsible for promoting positive changes in the society. That requires proactivity, doing the homework, and influencing other organizations to play their full part in this process, until we finally reach a change in the society’s culture. If, on the one hand, business organizations have a lot of power, on the other hand they have responsibilities. For this reason, they are responsible for being active in the change that will benefit society as a whole. This is the approach that will be present in the 2008 International Conference.

EI: You mentioned that, among the events scheduled for next year’s conference, there is a celebration and an exhibition on 10 years of the Ethos Institute. What is the purpose of these initiatives? Would it be to recapture the history of the Ethos Institute?
PI: Definitely. The path followed so far has been very important. I believe we have considerably advanced the social responsibility movement. At the same time, when we look ahead, we realize that changes are only beginning to take place. That is why I think the main function of the conference is to show we are part of a history of change. We are going to recall everything that has been achieved by the CSR movement in Brazil and abroad as a way to face the future with more hope and determination. I think we need to speed up the changes. We already have accumulated experience on which we can build and advance more quickly. The results of concrete actions and their outcomes must become evident to foster a higher level of commitment from private and public organizations. This is the challenge the conference wants to take for the next ten years.

EI: Has the Ethos Institute been organizing the conference alone or has it engaged its stakeholders?
PI: This event is part of the overall agenda of 2008, so Ethos will engage its members. In this period we intend to institutionalize all the procedures. In other words, we are going to walk our talk. The conference is inserted in this context. The conference itself is held by the Ethos Institute, supporters and partners such as the Global Compact, Banco de Eventos, SP Turis, Movimento Nossa São Paulo (Our São Paulo Movement), and the Akatu Institute, among others. The initial program we drew up will be discussed with these partners as a way to institutionalize a multi-stakeholder management process. The same happened with the Ethos’ annual planning. The initial proposal of the conference was conceived internally by using the criteria of listening to the whole Ethos Institute’s staff. Of course this is a path to improvement. Ethos has always sought to listen to its partners; we do not do anything alone. We’ve always tried to partner and listen to other opinions. And now we are moving towards a higher degree, which is the institutionalization of multi-stakeholder consultation and dialogue processes.

EI: In your opinion, what makes the 2008 International Conference a must?
PI: Besides the great challenge I referred to of presenting to the authorities a set of public policy proposals and programs for a socially responsible market, I believe the sustainable technologies show will be a must. We are going to bring the most updated sustainability technology we know of. These are resources that allow for sustainable innovation and development of new activities and products. So I think this conference will be not only a moment of reflection, but also a time to get in touch with new experiences and products. We usually say that implementing the sustainability culture in the society has two dimensions. The first one is an ethical imperative. After becoming aware of their negative impacts, the person or organization can not keep on developing their activities the same way. Making changes, therefore, becomes an imperative. Business organizations know they are causing negative impacts on the society. The evidence is clear. So it is necessary to change. The second dimension is related to the new industrial revolution in progress. The way of doing and producing is changing and that brings an unique opportunity for all those operating in the market. These issues will become evident during the 2008 International Conference.
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