TED talks: the business logic of sustainability – Ray Anderson

In 2009, the late, great Ray Anderson – founder of carpet manufacturers Interface – gave a TED talk about the viability and logic of sustainable commerce.

Anderson had been fanatical about good business ever since reading Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce in 1994, and claimed that sustainability had saved his company $364m over 10 years.

He promised that by 2020, Interface would cut out negative effects on the environment caused by its activities. Sadly, he died in 2011, but his legacy lives on through the Ray C Anderson Foundation, which was was set up in his honour shortly after his death.

The organisation says, “Ray championed the notion of businesses doing well by doing good. It’s these noble qualities of advancing knowledge and innovation around environmental stewardship and sustainability that recognised Ray as a pioneer in industrial ecology.”

Watch his inspiring TED talk below.

To watch this video on the TED website, click here.