M ES SAGES FROM OU R C O-FOU NDERS

Business cannot continue to take a back seat while our planet is irrevocably scarred by unsustainable development. My journey to The B Team started the day I fully grasped this undeniable truth, and began to transform PUMA to become a more sustainable brand and responsible environmental steward. We began by measuring the monetary value of our environmental impacts and dependencies. With the data at our disposal, we moved to fundamentally alter operations, resulting in reduced energy usage and emissions, and greater resource efficiency across the supply chain. But taking this on one company at a time could not achieve the type of systemic shift in the private sector required to create a resilient, healthy and just world. Three years ago, we therefore sought out like-minded partners and moved to build something that would do just that. The result was the creation of The B Team, an organisation of respected leaders striving to redefine the role of business in the world. We are not a talk shop, but practitioners who have led businesses and know how hard it can be to change longestablished customs. And we are civil society leaders who have pushed for a more just society. We collaborate with others to co-create, incubate and bring

Jochen Zeitz

to scale great ideas and innovative business models. Leading by example, and leveraging our collective voice, we are part of a growing movement of businesses who want to be part of the solution rather than a substantial contributor to the problem. We seek to make purpose-driven business a new, globally relevant norm. We act as a countervailing force to others lobbying to derail efforts to protect the planet and its inhabitants. We push the agenda. We don’t wait for government regulations to force us to act. Instead, we work with civil society to advocate for enabling policy environments‌and then we seek to go even further. Our work to create a future where all businesses offer solutions and work to preserve our planet’s precious land, water and biodiversity has only just begun, but we are running out of time. The era of business as usual has to end. Humanity needs a Plan B for business. Please join us on this important journey.

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