Resource Person: Ms Sunita Basnet 
Topic: The Sustainability Dilemma: Growth, Crisis, and Contradictions

Time: 120 Min (7:30 AM to 9:30 AM)

Key Focus:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand and articulate the core paradoxes within sustainability, such as the tension between economic growth and environmental limits, or innovation and resource depletion.
• Identify real-world examples where business activities have simultaneously driven economic development and environmental/social crises.
• Critically examine the role of business in contributing to sustainability challenges, including overproduction, global inequality, environmental degradation, and climate risks.
• Explore the contradictions between short-term business goals and long-term planetary boundaries, using frameworks like the triple bottom line, planetary boundaries, and doughnut economics.
• Reflect on how businesses can transform from part of the problem to part of the solution, through leadership, innovation, accountability, and stakeholder collaboration.
• Analyse trade-offs and tensions in sustainability strategies — e.g., green growth vs. degrowth, circularity vs. profitability, social inclusion vs. efficiency.