My big idea for 2016: put community at the heart of our businesses

If we are going to walk the talk that came out of the Paris climate summit, it will be on the streets where customers live

It's been a busy few months for big global discussions on social and environmental issues. From the launch of the UN's 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs); to a new vision from the EU for a circular economy; negotiations in Paris for the COP21 climate agreement; to a European refugee crisis triggered in part by climatic impacts in the Middle East.

But as much as we may welcome the sustained attention to sustainability challenges paid by global leaders, companies and NGOs must not forget that many of the solutions we need to create a more sustainable world reside at a very local level. We may participate in a hyper-connected digital world but our lives are still grounded in locality.