Topic 2 : Corporate responsibility : governance and financing of fair development

The next fifty years will see transformations of unprecedented scope and complexity, which will constitute a question of survival for humanity. They concern, in particular, the evolution of demographic structures, the necessary redistribution of wealth, access for all to basic commodities and services and a search for a sustainable balance between humanity and the biosphere.

These major changes will require long-term tangible and intangible investments to transform production and consumption modes, reorganise cities and local areas and radically re-evaluate the consumption of non-renewable resources. They will require forward-thinking vision and political determination, as well as strategies for change that are implemented for the long run. But the current logic of financial systems results in financial brokers, companies and states, which should have long-term vision and strategies, becoming trapped in a logic that favours the creation of short-term value for shareholders. That often has a significant impact on economic activity and employment.

Moreover, the prevalent thinking tends to impose a single model centred on the shareholder, thereby masking the wide diversity of types of existing organisations (unlisted companies, cooperatives, mutual companies, family firms etc.) and the forms of governance which can effectively reconcile economic and social aspects.

The Forum for a Responsible Globalisation aims to develop these subjects, with economic and financial actors who wish to play a positive social and environmental role. It also will explore how financial systems and companies can make the switch to a long-term logic of social responsibility.