Sustainability and system change

‘Sustainability is a dynamic process which enables all people to realise their potential and to improve their quality of life in ways that simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth’s life support system.’ Forum for the Future

Why system change for sustainability?

Climate change, malnutrition, inequality, poverty, ecological degradation. The world faces many complex, interrelated challenges, and it is clear many of our fundamental systems are broken. Unless we can understand the bigger picture in which these challenges sit, we will only end up mitigating problems or providing superficial solutions.

The global challenges we face are so urgent and tricky that we need a solution to match their scale and complexity. This is where system change comes in. We use systems thinking to understand the web of interrelations that create complex problems, anticipate unintended consequences, and identify how and where to take action. Systems thinking teaches you to see how individuals, places, businesses, actions, and innovations are interconnected. It is our way to respond to a complex, changing world.

What is system change?

A system is a configuration of parts connected by a web of relationships towards a purpose. It can be an ecosystem, such as the marine environment, the food system or socially created systems such as education and health. Systems can be small, such as organisations, or large, such as the whole economy.

A systems approach shifts the focus from individual parts to how the parts are organised, recognising that interactions of the parts are not static and constant but dynamic and fluid.

Systemic change is where relationships between different aspects of the system have changed towards new outcomes and goals. And it’s driven by transformational, not incremental change.

How do you change a system?

Ready to change systems with us?

To find out how we can help you, contact our team of change agents.

Want to build your skills as a change agent? Check out our courses at the School of System Change

Latest

Yamini Srivastava

Senior Strategist
Signal of change / WHO calls Coronavirus the first massive ‘infodemic’

The World Health Organization warned on 2 February that the 2019-nCoV outbreak and response has been accompanied by a massive ‘infodemic’, defined as "an over-abundance of information – some accurate and some not – that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it”. What can we learn from the epidemic to strike a better balance between emergency public health warnings and the need to protect and strengthen social cohesion in times of crisis?
Signal of change / Alibaba makes RNB 20 billion available in loans to Chinese companies hit by coronavirus

MYBank, part of the Alibaba Group Holdings affiliate Ant Financial, has responded to the COVID-19 outbreak by announcing RNB 20 billion in loans to Chinese companies, of which 50% is ring fenced for firms in Hubei province, where the virus originated. The move prompts the question, what does it mean to be a responsible business in a time of uncertainty and volatility?
Signal of change / Kickstarter employees vote to form a union

In a first for the technology industry, Kickstarter’s full-time employees have voted under the National Labor Relations Board to form a union. The workers are calling for a healthier power structure enabling greater participation in critical decisions, and changes in how the company addresses gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The move follows 18 months of internal organising which saw two employees fired and two others leave, reporting an intimidating working environment.

Five signs the 2020s can be the decade of delivery on climate

Will Dawson, Forum's Associate Director, Climate and Energy, sets out the key drivers for climate action next year.

The Five Capitals

There are five types of sustainable capital from where we derive the goods and services we need to improve the quality of our lives.
Reinventing the way the world works.

We specialise in addressing critical global challenges by catalysing change in key systems, from food to apparel, energy to shipping.
Jobs
Sustainability and system change
Characteristics of a sustainable business model

Over the last year a new term has been rising up – the sustainable business model. So far it has been used to signal the need to go beyond innovating products or services, and change the fundamentals of how a business makes money. At Forum for the Future we are trying to work through the detail of what makes a sustainable business model so more and more companies can act.
Transformational strategies

Pioneering organisations create systemic impacts beyond their own boundaries. We help them understand the opportunities, and how to unlock them.
Protein Challenge 2040

The Protein Challenge 2040 is the first global coalition of its kind, aiming to tackle the question: How do we provide up to 10 billion people with enough protein in a way that is healthy, affordable and good for the planet?
Fashion Futures 2025

Working with Levi Strauss and Co using futures techniques to develop global scenarios for a sustainable fashion industry.
Net Positive

We reinvent strategies for a 1.5°C world. Our Net Positive approach helping business put back more into society and environment than it takes out. Unilever’s pioneering commitment to eliminate fossil fuels from its operations and directly support the generation of more renewable energy than they consume was driven behind the scenes by Forum.
Become a system change agent

Applications are now open for Basecamp #9 Americas, kicking off in early May 2020 in the US. Apply now!