By advocating for policy changes, the Council seeks to create an economic model in which what is good for business is good for the environment and society.

The Council will pursue policy change along two broad themes: lowering the cost of capital so that investment will flow more easily to companies engaged in improving resource and social productivity; and altering fiscal frameworks so that the most productive actors are rewarded. For an outline of our initiatives, please visit our one-pager.

Read more about the Council in this article in Corporate Knights Magazine.

Our vision

A great society is a society in which its business leaders think greatly of their functions. – Alfred North Whitehead, philosopher

The power of markets must be harnessed to shape and grow an economy that is grounded in the golden rule: Business and society succeed together. Canada’s market-based system has led to many advances, but serious blind spots and inefficiencies are holding us back. Public policy is increasingly being driven by the private sector, and companies have an obligation to speak up and put forward policy that enables markets to create long-term inclusive wealth. That wealth is a function of five forms of capital: financial, manufactured, human, social and natural

We must do a better job inclusively accounting for all the capital foundations that drive our prosperity, and we must do a better job at removing the barriers that stand in the way of a more efficient allocation of capital in order to preserve and enhance the foundations of our wealth.

Priority topics

The Council for Clean Capitalism examined the market gaps that lead to sub-optimal allocation of capital and set out a menu of high-impact, feasible policy options that forward-looking private sector leaders would do well to champion.

• Inclusive wealth accounting: Sharing the tools and communicating the imperative to incorporate natural capital into our national accounts and provincial statements of financial position as a first step toward total wealth accounting. First step: include commercial natural capital in our core system of national accounts and the provinces’ statements of financial position.
• Green buildings: Closing critical information gaps and ensuring access to finance to catalyze profitable energy efficiency investment opportunities. First steps: required annual reporting of large building energy use, fast-track permit applications for buildings that meet environmental standards, and on-bill property tax financing.
• Green bonds: Supporting provinces to launch green bond programs. First step: scale successful Ontario pilot to other provinces.

Canada has among the most abundant sources of capital, of all forms, nested within a stable financial system. If any jurisdiction has the tools to create a more sustainable prosperity, it is ours. On this basis, we are in an enviable position to create models of exportable excellence that will enable civilization to overcome its mounting social and environmental challenges.