Adela Suñer is an economist, trained at the ESADE business school, and has more than 30 years of professional experience in companies, first as controller and then more oriented towards strategic consulting. It is one of the pioneers in Spain of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which in its case ended up resulting in the need to undertake a much more fundamental change to commit companies to a more humane model that is aware of its social and economic impacts. environmental.
The Great Recession of the late 2000s led Suñer towards the new movement of the Economy for the Common Good, founded by the Austrian Christian Felber, which goes far beyond CSR and provides tools and metrics to move towards a new economic paradigm that put people and the planet at the center and not the logic of private profit, a path that facilitates many more intersections between conventional commercial companies and the social economy.
Suñer is one of the references of the Economy of the Common Good in Spain, where a network of activists and consultants has been consolidating, both for research – even with a specific chair at the University of Valencia – and for academic research as well as that its principles and tools penetrate the organization of companies and also public administrations. “The ethical balance sheet should be mandatory for companies, at the same level as the balance sheet and the income statement,” says Suñer. And he adds: “It is perfect for a company to make profits; very good, but how did you do it? It is important to know.”
In this video interview with Economical alternatives and ElDiario.esthe economist details the objectives and methodology of the Economy for the Common Good, as well as other types of balance sheets, which she suggests placing at the same level of importance that conventional economics gives to accounting and audits focused on profitability for the investor. , with the aim of truly moving towards a more sustainable model. The objective is even to reverse the very logic of the economy: “Orthodoxy says that improving the economy will reduce poverty, but in reality it is the other way around: invest in ending poverty and the economy will improve!” he emphasizes.
In her opinion, there is already enough scientific evidence to show that a more inclusive economy that is aware of its social impact improves the economy as a whole – even in conventional parameters – and she is convinced that citizens have much more power than they imagine to precipitate changes in this direction if they assume their potential as conscious consumers.
The video interview with Adela Suñer is the sixth and final installment of the first season of Economy off the railsa series to give voice and visibility to economic traditions far from neoliberal orthodoxy, which is often presented as the only existing and possible one. This series has been co-produced by Economical alternatives, ElDiario.es and Locky Produccions thanks to the support of the Singular Projects program for the social economy of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The other installments, with the same format and each lasting around an hour, are accessible on the Economic Alternatives channel and have focused on Marxist economics (with Miren Etxezarreta), social economy (Eloi Serrano) , the ecological (Enric Tello), the feminist (Carmen Castro), and the monetary policy (Susana Martín Belmonte).
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