This book was written at a time when the world was in turmoil. COVID-19 was wreaking havoc throughout the world. People were confined to their homes to help stop the spread of the virus. Families were separated and economies shattered. However, in the midst of the gloom there were some hopeful signs. Joe Biden was sworn in as President of the USA. Among the first executive orders he issued were directives on racial justice and the USA rejoining the Paris Accord on Climate Change. His administration is currently implementing an economic package to provide relief to Americans suffering hardship because of the pandemic. These three examples are directly linked to the three pillars of sustainability addressed in this book: the physical environment, social issues, and economic justice. President Biden has clearly signalled that his administration will be committed to a sustainable planet-a marked and welcome departure from the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump. Before the advent of Trump and the pandemic, the world was making progress in achieving Sustainability Development Goals established by the United Nations with the agreement of its members nations. However, it is unlikely that any of the 17 goals will be met by the 2030 deadline. Those goals represented minimum targets for the global environmental, economic, and social pillars that underpin a sustainable future for our planet.

This book was written to gauge the views of a sample of political and business leaders from five countries on sustainability in order to determine if professional and national culture influenced their outlook.. It reports and analyzes the views of 41 business and political leaders from five countries: the USA, Canada, India, Sri Lanka, and Guyana. The leaders were interviewed, and the transcripts of those interviews were analyzed to identify themes. These were then weaved into an assessment of progress being made on the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDG). In addition to primary data collected through the interviews, a review of the vast literature on sustainability-related issues allowed the author to present new data in consideration of progress being made in the quest for a sustainable future.

It was not an easy task to arrange face-to-face interviews with leaders in five countries on three continents. However, the nature of the topic-sustainability-was of interest to the interviewees, and this paved the way for very interesting discussions. The weaving of the themes uncovered with the SDG hopefully will add to our understanding of what it would take to achieve a sustainable future for our planet.