In the last 50 years, we’ve seen dramatic and unprecedented progress in human indicators, and the market system has served us well on so many levels. But deep fractures are beginning to show. Income inequality has increased in almost all countries, albeit at different speeds. At the same time, we see record environmental degradation, loss of species at unprecedented rates – some 200 per day – severe stress on food systems and water, massive deforestation and climate change. Today, markets are unsustainable.

We need a new economic model – a model that benefits people and planet.

Last month, 200 CEOs redefined the purpose of a corporation: no longer would shareholders have primacy. Companies should be run for the benefit of all stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders. This is the same idea – the multi-stakeholder theory – that underpinned the founding of the World Economic Forum in 1971. As we face an unprecedented environmental crisis, the idea is taking firmer hold. A recent survey of CEOs found 90% believe sustainability is important to their companies’ business success. Behavioural economists now believe that the entire premise of classical economics – that people will always act in their own self-interest – is wrong.

What is the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact summit? It’s an annual meeting featuring top examples of public-private cooperation and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies being used to develop the sustainable development agenda. It runs alongside the United Nations General Assembly, which this year features a one-day climate summit. This is timely given rising public fears – and citizen action – over weather conditions, pollution, ocean health and dwindling wildlife. It also reflects the understanding of the growing business case for action. The UN’s Strategic Development Goals and the Paris Agreement provide the architecture for resolving many of these challenges. But to achieve this, we need to change the patterns of production, operation and consumption. The World Economic Forum’s work is key, with the summit offering the opportunity to debate, discuss and engage on these issues at a global policy level.

This is the good news. Hearts and minds are changing. An increasing number of millennials, business leaders and women in particular are calling for a new kind of market: a sustainable market, an inclusive, equitable, green and profitable market where sustainable principles drive growth, generating long-term value through the integration and balance of natural, social, human and financial capital.

To capture this momentum, HRH The Prince of Wales, with the support of the World Economic Forum, has formed a Sustainable Markets Council. This Council will bring together a unique coalition of corporates, governments and multilateral financial institutions to galvanize the commitment, action and strategic leadership needed to transform our market mechanisms to work for, not against, sustainability.

Building sustainable markets requires change in three main areas: a shift in corporate business models, a reoriented and mobilized financial system and an enabling environment that promotes regulation and incentivizes action. Already, we see change. Today, global estimates suggest the market for sustainable household appliances, reflecting consumer demand, is $546 billion and growing. As another example, Boston Consulting Group estimates $23 trillion of assets under management worldwide are in funds focused on environmental, social and governance criteria.

How big investors can have a big impact on society and sustainability Image: Boston Consulting Group

But there are dangers as well as opportunities – dangers of greenwashing, dangers of misaligned tax and incentive regimes, danger the plethora of sustainability initiatives fail to deliver scale or critical mass.

As companies, we must move beyond corporate social responsibility as a business add-on (and to be fair an increasing number are doing this) to mainstream, transforming businesses to align strategy, structure and other activities to ensure long-term stakeholder value in addition to financial returns. The lack of universal measures to transparently define goals and assess progress is a concrete challenge. Global standards, backed by regulators, will be game changers.

We also need a financial system fit for purpose. We must address flawed pricing systems in capital markets that result in relentless allocation of capital to short-term, unsustainable uses. We need financial regulation and reporting that integrates sustainability with global standards and mandatory disclosure.

Financing Sustainable Development The world’s economies are already absorbing the costs of climate change and a “business as usual” approach that is obsolete. Both scientific evidence and the dislocation of people are highlighting the urgent need to create a sustainable, inclusive and climate-resilient future. This will require no less than a transformation of our current economic model into one that generates long-term value by balancing natural, social, human and financial conditions. Cooperation between different stakeholders will be vital to developing the innovative strategies, partnerships and markets that will drive this transformation and allow us to raise the trillions of dollars in investments that are needed. To tackle these challenges, Financing Sustainable Development is one of the four focus areas at the World Economic Forum's 2019 Sustainable Development Impact summit. A range of sessions will spotlight the innovative financial models, pioneering solutions and scalable best practices that can mobilize capital for the the world's sustainable development goals. It will focus on the conditions that both public and private institutions should create to enable large-scale financing of sustainable development. It will also explore the role that governments, corporations, investors, philanthropists and consumers could play to deliver new ways of financing sustainable development.

Finally, we must recognize that what governments do and don’t do is critical. Incentives can attract or repel investment, taxes can favour or suppress energy choices, and information, such as in food or product labelling, can win or lose customers. We need to steer towards sustainable stakeholder capitalism. A good first step would be to end perverse subsidies in agricultural, fisheries and fossil fuels.

Consumers have power, too, to persuade boardrooms and cabinets to rethink policies and re-examine bottom lines. Controlling an estimated 60% of global GDP, citizens and consumers can change the market. We see it happening already.