What are the impacts of limited resources on business now and in the future?

Bringing together the best and the brightest sustainability thought leaders and practitioners from around the globe is always exciting for us. The opportunity to share success stories, ideas and make connections helps further advance the evolution of the market that we all serve; And, ultimately helps organizations create further tangible business value from sustainability. This year we decided to pose some questions to our esteemed speakers, attendees and PE INTERNATIONAL leaders in advance of our event. The questions relate to the topic of the Symposium “Sustaining business success and growth in a resource constrained world” and the related program highlights. It is our hope that these casual interviews will help to evoke meaningful dialogue of the most pressing topics facing our customers today.

Q 1. What are the impacts of limited resources on business now and in the future?

 Moritz Ritter, CEO, The Ritter Group.








“The first issue is a cost factor since the cost of energy sources along the supply chain has an impact on competitiveness, as well as the cost and availability of raw materials. About 80% of the total energy consumption comes from fossil fuels. With the exception of natural gas (shale gas) whose price has decreased in countries such as the U.S. due to fracking, companies must deal with the increasing energy prices of fossil fuels. Businesses need to think in the future of a wide range of alternatives which include both fossil and renewable energy sources. Assuming that the real costs of fossil fuels will ever be accurate and transparent, renewable energy sources will be seen not only as the most environmentally responsible decision but also the most cost-efficient, and in the long run, the only available.”


 

Neil D’Souza, SoFi Software Product Manager, PE INTERNATIONAL. 

“I see the impact as increased costs of production in accordance with the basic principles of supply and demand. It implies changing supply chains and business relationships, elevating the importance of social issues of fairness and equitable distribution of resources, a focus on efficiency to reduce waste and greater importance on monitoring. There will be a case of ‘innovate or die.’ I also believe in the long term it can change how we benefit from globalization where companies source materials from one place to deliver products in another. This will be the cornerstone of economic success for major economies and will inevitably change quite dramatically in the next 10 to 15 years.”