The Sustainable Capitalism Manifesto

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203430404577092682864215896.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

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"When failure isn't an option, nothing serves a person better than strategic thinking." (John C. Maxwell)

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It's so nice to have Al Gore back. This time we have the "Sustainable Capitalism Manifesto!" This, of course, is how businesses can "embrace" environmental, social and governmental metrics. And, we can do all this at once! This must be how you win a Nobel!

I can't wait for Al's next movie!

But first Al has to show us why we need this thinking: we have "disruptive threats" facing the planet. Those would be climate change (somebody tell Al the the climate has been changing for the last 20,000 years and that it has actually "cooled" for the better part of the first ten years of the 21st century, but I digress), water scarcity, poverty, disease, growing income inequality, urbanization, massive economic volatility and more.

Al has the answers for all this: "sustainable capitalism." You see, this is "...a framework that seeks to maximize long-term economic value by reforming markets to address real needs while integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics throughout the decision-making process." All I need is another acronym to try to remember. Fortunately, I don't need to remember this one.

According to Al, this concept transcends borders, industries, asset classes and stakeholders. That's one way to look at it. Another would be great companies do the right thing about environment anyway. What a concept!

Al recommends 5 key actions companies should take (I recommend just one: don't pay any attention to Al). The first of those "actions" is to evaluate "stranded assets." Of course, this concept requires a definition: those (assets) whose value would dramatically change, either positively or negatively, when large externalities are taken into account - for example, attributing a reasonable price to carbon or water. I'm sure that current GAAP accounting rules would cover that, just as they did for Enron's creative efforts. Perhaps Al could sell this approach in China where their equivalent of U.S. GAAP accounting is "CRAAP" accounting (really!). Based on some of China's business practices, there might be flexibility there. But, I think Al would have trouble with the fact that, between China and India, they're building 4 coal-fired power plants per week.

I'd explain the rest of the "5 key actions" but I don't want to waste time (the article is attached). Unfortunately, I have to agree with one of Al's recommendations: "End the default practice of issuing quarterly earnings reports." We should all be in this for long term value creation and he's right about that.

I'm anxiously waiting for Al's next big pronouncement.