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

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Webinar: Future of Sustainability 2020 - UK/Europe

Join us on 8 July 2020 at a webinar dedicated to understanding how can we harness the radical disruption presented by the COVID-19 crisis to drive a truly sustainable, just and resilient future?

Webinar: Future of Sustainability 2020 - US

Join us on 30 July 2020 at a webinar dedicated to exploring what is next for the fields of sustainability, impact investing and philanthropy.
Webinar: Future of Sustainability 2020 - India/APAC

Join us on 22 July at a webinar dedicated to understanding whether the disruption from COVID-19 has accelerated the transition to a sustainable future, or made it more challenging.
A new dawn for nature-based solutions?

In the sixth of our Corporate Leadership in the Time of Corona series, Dr Sally Uren explores the latest in nature-based solutions (NbS) and the interconnected nature of five key capitals –and calls on business to advocate for greater uptake and investment in these high-impact solutions.
Build Back Fairer - and Healthier

In the fifth of our Corporate Leadership in the Time of Corona series, Jonathon Porritt explores how intricately linked climate change and public health are, and the crucial need for business to play its part in ensuring we strengthen healthcare systems in the bid to ‘build back better’ post COVID-19.
Webinar: Future of Sustainability 2020 - UK/Europe

Join us on 8 July 2020 at a webinar dedicated to understanding how can we harness the radical disruption presented by the COVID-19 crisis to drive a truly sustainable, just and resilient future?
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Reinventing the way the world works.

Forum for the Future is a leading international sustainability non-profit. We specialise in addressing critical global challenges by catalysing change in key systems, from food to apparel, energy to shipping. We do this by convening transformational collaborations to drive change, by partnering with organisations to help them lead by example, and by building a global community of pioneers and change makers.
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Basecamp#10 starts in September 2020 in the UK.