As financial institutions and markets crash around us, I am frequently being asked whether global business can sustain its actions for a greener, more inclusive and economically rational world. Surely, some have asked, the focus of business is elsewhere right now?

In my view, the need for responsible business engagement in the big issues of our time has never been more urgent. The limited results of the Hokkaido G8 Summit, the Doha talks on liberalising world trade and the recent US financial bail-out demonstrates the weakness of political leadership in many of the leading economies.