Books
My books help spread the ideas that support my actions within the scope of the “new philanthropy”, allocating part of my time and financial resources to support initiatives that promote equal opportunities within the framework of sustainable development. Some of my books include reports prepared in cooperation with my partners in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); in other cases, they are essays compiled by independent editors or forewords to works of authors with whom I share lines of thought and action.
Changing course – A global business perspective for development and environment
Stephan Schmidheiny, with the Business Council for Sustainable Development 1992
MIT Press; Cambridge, Mass
English, 375 pages
In the spring of 1991, some 50 CEO’s from world-leading corporations were called on by Stephan Schmidheiny to jointly prepare an entrepreneurial declaration for the Earth Summit that would take place the following year in Rio de Janeiro. During its sessions, the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) was created. The council, presided over by Stephan Schmidheiny, published this book that analyses the compatibility of economic growth with the protection of the environment, and proposes solutions to transform the cost of resource preservation into benefits for the industry.
Preface and Brief.
Available in English (213 Kb)
Walking the talk: The business case for sustainable development
Stephan Schmidheiny, Charles O. Holliday Jr., Philip Watts 2002, Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield & Berrett-Koeler Publishers
San Francisco
English – Portuguese, 288 pages
This book, launched simultaneously with the Johannesburg Summit, and written in cooperation with entrepreneurial leaders Charles O. Holliday Jr., president of DuPont, and Philip Watts, president of the Administration Council of the Shell Group, analyses what the corporate vanguard has done regarding sustainable development and where this is headed., emphasizing the value of joint entrepreneurial, governmental and civil society work, keeping in mind a form of globalization that would guarantee as many opportunities as possible, for as many people as possible.
Part 1.
Available in Spanish (305 Kb)
La Comunidad Financiera y del Desarrollo Sostenible
Stephan Schmidheiny – Federico J.L. Zorraquin – WBCSD 1996
MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass 1996
English, 211 pages
Stephan Schmidheiny and Argentine entrepreneur Federico Zorraquin, together with members of WBCSD, analyze the importance given to sustainable development by the actors of the financial market (bankers, managers, insurers, and investors). This book compiles the points of view of the different sectors involved, and at the same time focuses attention on the need to study environmental aspects as a fundamental variable for a truly successful financial planning.
Introduction and Chapter 1.
Available in English (219 Kb)
Las Nuevas Reglas del Juego. Hacia un desarrollo sostenible en América Latina
Stephan Schmidheiny – Hernando de Soto, 1991
Oveja Negra, Bogotá
Spanish, 264 pages
Stephan Schmidheiny and Hernando de Soto present in this book the most relevant contributions and conclusions of the symposium “The reform of political and legal institutions: requirement for sustainable development?”. This event, organized by FUNDES (Foundation for Sustainable Development) and ILD (Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Peru), at the end of 1990, gathered in Santiago, Chile, more than 300 government authorities, politicians, scientists, journalists, entrepreneurs, and members of trade unions interested in this topic. The former President of Uruguay, Julio M. Sanguinetti; the president of El Diario from Caracas, Marcel Granier; and the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Enrique Iglesias, are among the main authors of the articles included in this book, which also contains reports of Hernando de Soto and Stephan Schmidheiny.
Introduction and Article by Stephan Schmidheiny.
Available in English (126 Kb)
A Passion for Ideas – How Innovators Create the New and Shape Our World
Heinrich v. Pierer & Bolko v. Oetinger, 2002
Purdue University Press, Indiana
English, 368 pages
Moviemaker Peter Greenaway, architect Tao Ho, and philosopher Jurgen Werner, together with Stephan Schmidheiny, among others, participate in this truly original work that compiles the ideas of a prestigious group of thinkers on innovation, considered a basic condition for the sustainability of any type of organization in a world characterized by fierce competition and globalized markets. Heinrich v. Pierer (President and CEO of Siemens AG) and Bolko v. Oetinger (Vice-President of the Boston Consulting Group) put together this anthology of contemporary ideas that presents disciplines such as business, science, music, and art as keys to generating a permanent climate of change that is indispensable for the development and future survival of organizations
Essay by Stephan Schmidheiny.
Available in English (115 Kb)
Towards an ecologically sustainable growth society: Physical foundations, economic transitions and political constraints
Stephan Schmidheiny, Walter Seifritz and Bruno Fritsch, 1994
Springer, Berlin – New York
English – German, 198 pages
This book presents the subject of sustainable development dealt with in an interdisciplinary form by three specialists, each one basing his contribution in the discipline he knows best: economy (Bruno Fritsch), business (Stephan Schmidheiny), and natural sciences (Walter Seifritz). Each chapter concentrates in one of these three areas with different levels of complexity, but the objective of this work is that the reader, regardless of previous knowledge, should find valuable content in each section, particularly in those presenting a discipline different from his or her own.
Preface and Chapter 7 by Stephan Schmidheiny.
Available in English (105 Kb)