Building Sustainable Industries for Sustainable Societies

The greening of industry is a strategic research area where many paradigms converge, not a new field or discipline, nor a specialty of an existing discipline. These paradigms all share the assumption that industrial firms will play a vital role in the needed transition to a sustainable society. And they share the view that the transition will change firms in a profound way, influencing their strategies and instruments, identities, and relationships with their stakeholders (Groenewegen et al., 1995: 1) The results of the Fourth Greening of Industry Network Conference, Research and Practice: Learning to Build Sustainable Societies, held in Toronto, Canada, 12–14 November 1995, are summarized. The Greening of Industry Network is concerned with the role of firms and industries in the transition to a sustainable society. The Network conferences, held annually at different locations around the world, promote this goal by bringing together diverse participants from industry, government, academia and various non-governmental organizations. The conferences are venues for information exchange, learning and dialogue about diverse aspects of the greening of industry and possible pathways to a sustainable society. The 1995 conference was co-ordinated by Professor Nigel Roome of the Erivan K. Haub Program in Business and the Environment at York University, Canada.