THE ELEPHANT IN THE BOARDROOM

The paper examines the conflict between the projected growth of the global middle class and the finite capacity of Earth's natural systems. It argues that 'business growth predicated on consumption is the new elephant in the corporate boardroom,' as traditional 'take-make-waste' models risk overshooting planetary boundaries. Using cars, beef, and apparel as case studies, the authors demonstrate that incremental efficiency gains are insufficient to offset the volume of increased demand. The document recommends that companies 'do the math' on their resource dependencies, lead industry-wide conversations on consumption, and transform their core business models toward circularity and service-based value propositions to ensure long-term viability.

• Global population and economic growth are projected to increase significantly, with the world population exceeding 9.5 billion by 2050 and GDP per capita projected to be three times higher than 2000 levels by 2050.
• The global middle class is expanding rapidly, with 3 billion people projected to join this class in the 15 years following the report's context, creating an unprecedented market opportunity but increasing stress on natural resources.
• If current business models persist, global resource use could triple by 2050 compared to a 2000 baseline, a level of consumption that the planet's natural systems cannot sustain.
• Corporate awareness of ecological limits is extremely low; a review of 40,000 sustainability reports from 2000 to 2014 found that only about 5 percent mentioned ecological limits.
• In the automotive sector, efficiency improvements have not offset the growth in vehicle volume, and global GHG emissions from cars and trucks continue to rise.
• Beef is the most resource-intensive protein source, and its increasing demand drives significant environmental damage, including deforestation in the Amazon where nearly 60 million cattle are located.
• The apparel industry is characterized by 'fast fashion,' which has increased the number of clothes purchased by 60 percent between 2000 and 2014 while halving the duration they are kept.
• The apparel industry contributes 10 percent of global GHG emissions and is responsible for up to 20 percent of global industrial water pollution.
• To remain within planetary boundaries, the document suggests a need for 'unprecedented innovation' to keep resource consumption flat while meeting growing demand, which would require reducing resource use per product by 75 percent across the life cycle.

APA

DEL PINO, S. P., METZGER, E., DREW, D., & MOSS, K. (2017). THE ELEPHANT IN THE BOARDROOM. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/The_Elephant_In_The_Boardroom.pdf

Chicago

DEL PINO, SAMANTHA PUTT, ELIOT METZGER, DEBORAH DREW, and KEVIN MOSS. THE ELEPHANT IN THE BOARDROOM. World Resources Institute, 2017. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/The_Elephant_In_The_Boardroom.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=DEL PINO |first1=SAMANTHA PUTT |last2=METZGER |first2=ELIOT |last3=DREW |first3=DEBORAH |last4=MOSS |first4=KEVIN |title=THE ELEPHANT IN THE BOARDROOM |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=March 2017 |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/The_Elephant_In_The_Boardroom.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{delpino2017elephant, author = {DEL PINO, SAMANTHA PUTT and METZGER, ELIOT and DREW, DEBORAH and MOSS, KEVIN}, title = {{THE ELEPHANT IN THE BOARDROOM}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2017}, month = mar, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/The_Elephant_In_The_Boardroom.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }