The role of moral leadership for sustainable production and consumption

The principles, the actions and the vision that form the basis for sustainable production and consumption (SCP) are not unknown, but there is a considerable gap between knowledge and action, and behavioural incentives are not sufficient for system change. In this paper we explore a key missing ingredient in the work to promote SCP, leadership that is underpinned by ethical dimensions in its purpose, style and motivation. We show that current leadership styles are insufficient to generate the will and the human resources required for building SCP. The core of the paper is a comparative theoretical and ethical analysis of three leadership models designed to address complex adaptive challenges and with varying degrees of ethical dimensions incorporated. This enables us to evaluate the added value of incorporating ethical dimensions in leadership models and training. We analyse in more depth the most promising of the three models in this regard, the moral leadership framework developed by Eloy Anello and others at Nur University in Bolivia. We conclude that Anello’s model provides a number of additional elements usually neglected in leadership models but that appear essential in generating the necessary vision, understanding and motivation to work for SCP. The evaluation of trainings in the moral leadership framework made so far indicate its potential for supporting transformational change, individual and collective, change that is essential in the promotion of sustainable production and consumption.