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Peter Blom
"Delivering profound change means a powerful, combined leadership effort. And it means a steep learning curve."
With Peter Blom, a banker dedicated to sustainability and social justice joins the Club of Rome. Three questions to the CEO of Triodos Bank.
Financial and economic crisis, climate and energy; a whole range of crisis has dominated the agendas of international decision-makers over the last years. In your view, what are the most critical global challenges for the next ten years?
Above all, radical change in orthodox thinking is necessary about society, money and the environment. We risk freezing in the face of daunting problems. Meeting these challenges ultimately requires the right kind of combined leadership, at all levels.
In business, we have to move the paradigm from maximising financial profit in the short term to long-term value creation - to bridge the gap between company and shareholder interest, and the common good. In politics, a shift's required from battling for media attention, to win the next election, to framing the legislative context for sustainable development. And last but certainly not least, we need to support widespread change in people, so that citizens become conscious consumers.
Delivering such profound change means a powerful, combined leadership effort. It requires effective social entrepreneurship. And it means a steep learning curve. We will need entrepreneurs who recognise our social and environmental challenges and who have the energy and acumen to meet them.
What role can the Club of Rome play in this context and how do you envisage your contribution to the work of the Club?
The Club of Rome goes beyond business, politics and civil society, yet it is deeply rooted in them. It provides an inspiring vision of an emerging, sustainable future. In a balanced, non-ideological way, the Club of Rome can help plot a route to get there.
As a banker, I want to focus on how the financial sector can support fundamental change in how we organise our economy and how we can reconnect the way we do business with a true quality of life. Not just for a few at the cost of the many, nor just using up the resources that future generations will need.
The financial system has to change to be able to finance change. It has become a short-term, money making machine, detached from the real economy. I co-founded and now Chair the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, a network that concentrates on the real economy, financing genuine value: economically and socially, and not at the cost of the planet. We want to show that banking can fulfill a service role without becoming an NGO or government agency - using powerful forces of entrepreneurship, markets and business efficiency.
"The Limits to Growth" the initial report to the Club of Rome is now almost 40 years old. One of the report's key assumptions was that unlimited growth on a planet with finite resources cannot go on forever. Did this verdict stand the test of time?
The report inspired me as young graduate and social entrepreneur. And it still does. Because it forces us to confront a fundamental question, and asks what are we going to do about it. What's changed for me, is a sense of urgency around how to deal with finite resources in an ever-more demanding world.
This urgency should be clear, but sophisticated ways to create doubt have developed across society. Doubt about the effects of climate change, for instance. Acting while accepting that there will always be scientific doubt is one of the most difficult challenges we face; because without reasonable doubt there is no science. Science should serve and stimulate action, not be exploited as a game that prevents action.
The report continues to be an inspiring example of what a systematic approach can teach us. Now we know the limits, it's time to act. It's time to change concepts of growth from using more resources, to using them more intelligently and sustainably.
Peter Blom
Peter Blom has been CEO of Triodos Bank since 1997. Born in Leiden in the Netherlands he studied economics at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and was jointly responsible for establishing one of the first centres in the Netherlands for organic food, including an organics shop, restaurant and information center in Amsterdam. He then worked at Triodos Bank as a Senior Business Banking Account Manager, before becoming Joint Managing Director, until he took up his current role as CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board in 1997.
Peter Blom is also Chair of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, Member of the Board of The Dutch Banking Association, Chair of the Organic Food and Agricultural Council of the Netherlands and Deputy Chairman of the Multifunctional Agriculture Taskforce by order of the Dutch Ministry for Agriculture.
Peter Blom was awarded the Dutch Royal distinction of Knight of Oranje Nassau in 2008 for his contribution to social banking and sustainability.
Triodos Bank won the Financial Times and IFC Sustainable Bank of the Year Award 2009.
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