Launched in 2002, the US BCSD is a regional partner of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a global network of 200 international companies with members from 35 countries and 20 major industrial sectors. Our mission is to show first-hand the benefits sustainable development can provide to a company’s triple bottom line – generating economic returns while improving the environment and society.

The United States Business Council for Sustainable Development demonstrates the business value of sustainable development through:

• Providing the opportunity to participate in authentic sustainability projects with industry, government and other key stakeholders.
• Offering meaningful business relationships with leaders from diverse industries to develop new working relationships and share the best ideas in sustainability.
• Enhancing members’ credibility through groundbreaking projects and partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

We’re active throughout the United States, with member facilities in nearly every region.

US BCSD History

The United States Business Council for Sustainable Development began in 1992 with the innovative, cross-boundary thinking of a few company leaders in the Gulf of Mexico region. They wanted to know what benefits sustainable development might offer, and decided that the best way to find out was through collaborative projects that could be assessed, measured and replicated. Early projects on water, ecosystems, accounting and metrics led to the successful launch of the first By-Product Synergy project in Tampico, Mexico in 1997. This successful initiative, based on the premise that regional companies could find valuable synergies among themselves if only they could understand each other’s operations sufficiently, has led to projects around the world and expanded to include a number of focus areas including water, ecosystems, energy and materials. Twenty years later, as one of 60 national business councils in the World BCSD’s global network, the US BCSD continues to demonstrate the business value of sustainable development and the power of collaborative methodologies.  Read more…

Our Future: Vision 2050

The WBCSD’s cornerstone Vision 2050 report calls for a new agenda for business laying out a direction to a world in which nine billion people can live well, and within the planet’s resources, by mid-century. Under the Vision 2050 project, 29 WBCSD member companies developed a vision of a world well on the way to sustainability by 2050, and a pathway leading to that world – one that will require fundamental changes in governance structures, economic frameworks, business and human behavior. It emerged that these changes are necessary, feasible and offer tremendous business opportunities for companies that turn sustainability into strategy.  Read more…

WBCSD Connection

The WBCSD is a CEO-led organization of forward-thinking companies that galvanizes the global business community to create a sustainable future for business, society and the environment. From its starting point in 1992 to the present day, the Council has created respected thought leadership on business and sustainability. The Council plays the leading advocacy role for business. Leveraging strong relationships with stakeholders, it helps drive debate and policy change in favor of sustainable development solutions.  Read more…