Against ideologies, the choice of the common good.

Since 2010, the Zermatt Summit foundation has focused it’s work on harnessing the power of finance and the economy to serve the common good and the human person.

Different models and examples of companies leaders in the field of sustainable development were showcased.

Sustainable development seeks to balance economic, social and environmental imperatives in a long-term perspective. It was an important first step in developing a holistic awareness of the world’s problems. In response to this requirement, corporate social responsibility sought to implement the principles of sustainable development.

The ever-increasing interdependence between emerging and complex societal, political, economic and environmental issues now requires more in-depth and articulated reflection in order to coordinate human action and its ethical component in an efficient and responsible manner. In this new global context, the concepts used until now (sustainable development, CSR, etc.) are showing their limitations. It seems necessary to resort to a notion that is both classic and eminently relevant in order to address the complexity of a world that is as resilient as it is fragile. This notion is that of the common good

The common good is the result of a vision, that allows us to take a step back, to see the bigger picture while maintaining a practical and concrete understanding of the steps necessary to achieve this common good. The pursuit of the common good must bring together all the actors and innovative forces in society at every level.

The common good, in order to truly be a shared endeavour from which everyone can benefit, requires consideration of five fields of personal and collective human life:

1. The spiritual field, which raises questions about the meaning and values that guide human action and coexistence.
2. The cultural field in the broad sense, which concerns the transmission of values and knowledge that can shape the face of a society. In a multicultural and often relativistic context, it is a question of discovering what makes our world more humane and putting discoveries and activities at the service of people.
3. The political field, which is particularly responsible for coordinating the common good while respecting what transcends it – the spiritual and cultural – and coordinating human economic and scientific activities for the benefit of all, while respecting individual freedoms.
4. The economic field, which aims to manage resources and produce goods and services in order to enable a standard of living that serves the true fulfilment of each and every individual
5. Finally, the technical field, which concerns know-how and means of production, research and the implementation of increasingly sophisticated technologies for the benefit of human life in the economic, political and cultural fields.

It is around these fileds that the Zermatt Summit has chosen to focus its research and structure its next meetings in order to explore the specific and often circumscribed issues of our time in greater depth, while situating them within an organic and architectonic vision of society.