That’s the work I’m doing in collaboration with London School of Economics developing & refining an early-stage business assessment focused on what socially responsible business transformation actually requires.
The lesson isn’t “Google bad.” It’s that optimisation inside extractive systems has limits.
Most companies never define what enough looks like, and treat prioritising financial value above all else as inevitable, when it’s actually a choice.
📜 Corporate form still encodes financial growth as the organising logic
This isn’t criticism for its own sake. If a company like Google with this level of capital, talent and stated climate commitment can’t bend the curve, that points to structural limits, not a lack of effort.
💧 Freshwater consumption up 28% YoY. Replenishment helps, but doesn’t erase the local and seasonal water pressures caused by fast-growing data-centre demand.
💸 ~80% of net income flows to shareholders.
🗳️ 2 founders >50% voting control. Employees & other stakeholders have 0 formal representation
Looking at Alphabet, a clear pattern emerges:
planetary-scale infrastructure, village-scale governance.
⚡ Despite having world-class efficient infrastructure, absolute energy consumption more than doubled YoY: the classic Jevons Paradox.
A market cap isn’t “value created.” It’s the present capitalisation of expected future surplus extraction.
So I’m assessing companies like Alphabet informed by Jennifer Hinton's business transformation framework to ask: is the business itself institutionally compatible with a regenerative future?
Earlier this week Google hit a $4tn market cap. I still hold some shares, so part of me should be celebrating!
I've been looking at what valuations like this are actually built on, and how those expectations constrain what companies can realistically choose to do, regardless of intent.
Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/43rK...
Watch on Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5cO...
Why progressive taxes and Universal Basic Income can't fix inequality, broken down by the @postgrowth.org’s @donmacca.bsky.social
"All of the imagination in the mainstream is still around a capitalist system. So inequality is baked in to that equation"
Listen to the Moral Footprint podcast for an exploration of not-for-profit business, how to reclaim agency by moving your money, why progressive taxes can't fix inequality and so much more: open.spotify.com/episode/43rK...
What would you draw if asked to imagine an economy that works for everyone?
@donmacca.bsky.social tested this with 10K+ people worldwide, who consistently drew:
⭕️ Circles
♾ Infinity symbols
🌀 Spirals
❤️ Hearts
Never linear growth charts. We know what a just economy looks like
Powerful finding in this concise & punchy report. Over 90% of UK business professionals surveyed believe businesses should align with the principles of Doughnut Economics - but most massively underestimate how many of their peers also do. @jenimiles.bsky.social www.jenimiles.com/research/pos...
Full Moral Footprint episode at open.spotify.com/episode/3m0X...
🎙️ Systems doula and regenerative economy advocate Joy Njeri:
“What has happened is business have separated themselves from community, and that’s why we are having most of the problems we are having. That’s why they’re so detached from what is even happening in the environment.”
Search Moral Footprint on Youtube or your fave podcast platform to hear the full conversation
What would a corporate business strategy look like if thriving ecosystems and human wellbeing were valued as highly as quarterly financial results?
As she reveals in our recent podcast chat, typical sustainability reporting often involves "the same issue on the table year after year"—whilst fundamental business models remain unquestioned.
After two decades in sustainability consulting where conventional methods "had no impact," B Lorraine Smith created the Matereality framework, which flips Materiality assessments and centres life, not the company's.
This disconnect between the quest for infinite growth and what sustains life is precisely what drove B Lorraine Smith develop a radically different approach.
🌍 The missing variable in a corporation's expansion formula? Ecological limits.
Many global companies are heading in the opposite direction to climate science guidance, which demands emissions reductions by 2030 to avert destruction of vital ecosystems:
Thanks for being so generous with your time & sharing your perspective on opposing systems of domination by striving to "do what we can, where we are, with what we have" 💚
