Leaders in sustainable development: how agents of change define the agenda

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the Eighth Annual Greening of Industry Conference, Sustainability: Ways of Knowing/Ways of Acting. Held in Chapel Hill, NC (USA), 14–17 November 1999, the conference featured diverse visions of sustainability and a range of views on which societal actors should play leading roles in setting the sustainability agenda. The conference revealed a dichotomy between corporate and public visions of sustainability: who should define the agenda, who should lead the transition and the degree of change needed to achieve a sustainable society. Presenters at the conference highlighted innovative sustainability actions of corporations, the challenges and successes of collaborative approaches, and the shift in the NGO tactics towards the corporate role in defining the sustainability agenda. A challenge for future Network conferences is how to catalyse fruitful links and mergers among various visions of sustainable development and the leading agents of change. To that end, a research agenda is proposed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]