An overwhelming majority of corporate CEOs–93%–say that sustainability will be critical to the future success of their companies, in spite of the recent economic downturn.
Furthermore, CEOs believe that, within a decade, a tipping point could be reached that fully meshes sustainability with core business.
These are two of the key findings of a survey of 766 CEOs around the globe–the largest such research study of CEOs ever conducted on the topic of sustainability–released today by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture (NYSE: ACN). In addition to an online survey, the study included extensive interviews with 50 CEOs.
According to ‘A New Era of Sustainability: UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study 2010’, the global economic downturn did little to dampen corporate commitment to sustainability. In fact it seems to have done the opposite: 80% of the CEOs say the downturn has raised the importance of sustainability. As businesses look to the upturn, CEOs also identified consumers as their most important stakeholder in recognition of the increasing demand for products and services that address sustainability concerns.
"CEOs told us they have by necessity been on the defensive during the downturn, but that they feel now is the time to get on the front foot in aligning sustainability with core business strategy and execution" said Mark Foster, Accenture’s group chief executive for management consulting and global markets.
However, challenges remain and execution across the breadth of the organization is highlighted by CEOs as particularly difficult. For example, while 88% of CEOs believe they should be integrating sustainability through their supply chain, only 54% believe this is being achieved in their company. A similar performance gap is seen for subsidiaries.
"It is clear from the survey results that global business has its work cut out in order to build sustainability programs that become key components of a company’s core business," said Peter Lacy, who led the study and is managing director of Sustainability Services at Accenture for Europe, Africa, Middle East and Latin America. "If sustainability does become fully integrated into global businesses within the next decade, the regulatory, technology, investment and consumer changes required will be staggering, creating significant winners and losers across businesses and industries."
More information on the study can be found at the link below.
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