I think the Saatchi and Saatchi statement is the most profound. From the creator of the lovemark concept they now clearly state that

When Saatchi & Saatchi developed Lovemarks we understood that the shift of power to consumers would change brands forever. Now consumers are subjecting Lovemarks and would-be Lovemarks to another tough test. Not only is a Lovemark owned by the people who love it, but it has to front up to the sustainability challenge. Saatchi & Saatchi S works to connect environmental, economic, social and cultural streams of action together to make sustainability irresistible. No sustainability, no Lovemark.

Industry should play its part in the fight against climate change by persuading governments to aid carbon cuts rather than lobbying against them, the U.N. Secretary-General told CEOs in Copenhagen today.

Business leaders met in Denmark today at the World Business Summit on Climate change to try to unite behind a common call for long-term climate policies, ahead of the U.N. conference in December designed to forge a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

“For those who are directly or implicitly lobbying against climate action I have a clear message: your ideas are out of date and you are running out of time,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the meeting of more than 500 business leaders.

“The smart money is on the green economy,” he said. “Leaders sometimes are weak because they are short-sighted to get the votes,” he added, urging businesses to lobby for carbon cuts.

Full coverage of the speech can be found here or a written version on the UN Global Compact web site.

MCI is the event logistics and sustainability consulting partner for the World Business Summit on Climate Change, the UN Climate Change Conference, the World Mayors Summit on Climate Change and the UN Global Compact leaders summit

“Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalised, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism”

With the increase government control of many large corporations around the world we will see a lot of changes in the forthcoming years. Who knows how this will pan out. My feelings is that it could be good for Ethics, CSR and Sustainability. Yesterdays commitments from Obama about a new energy policy and also his commitment regarding a more ethical Whitehouse are first indications of probable US policy. Its not really surprising since its the governments who will sign the binding targets at the COP15 UN climate change meeting in December and they will want to pass on the risk and job of achieving these targets to the business world. Now that they have so much control in many of the industries and financial world, it will be easier for them to enforce new carbon and renewables legislation. At the same time there may be a greater tendency for governments to become more nationalistic. Yesterday for example in Spain, one of the worst affected countries, the Minister for the Economy called for Spanish industry to buy local. In tough times and with a need to reduce carbon emissions through transport, we can expect to see much more of these types of messages.

So is Karl Marx right? Will we see a return to a new form of communism?

BC Forbes said; “The human being who lives only for himself finally reaps nothing but unhappiness. Selfishness corrodes. Unselfishness ennobles, satisfies. Don’t put off the joy derivable from doing helpful, kindly things for others.”

Not a bad way to work in a recession. That is if the long term is important to you?