Organisations paying only lip service to sustainability.

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 20 November 2007 10:03

IT Industry - Market

One third of respondents to an international survey have admitted that their company makes sustainability efforts only in markets where it is perceived to have an impact on customers’ perceptions of the firm, and a similar proportion admitted that their company’s sustainability efforts mostly centred on communication, rather than actual change. The survey was carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit with sponsorship from BT. According to BT, it also revealed that organisations are failing to realise business benefits from sustainability programmes: while almost half said that sustainability programmes helped improve brand value, just one 20 percent felt they improved profitability.

James Watson, senior editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said: "Many companies are moving away from mere rhetoric towards real business initiatives. However, a gap remains between what companies claim they are achieving in terms of managing their social and environmental impacts and the extent to which their executives feel involved in these activities. Companies need to devise strategies that do more to engage staff in sustainability through their day-to-day activities."

The research found that sustainability programmes were missing out on board-level leadership. In 40 percent of the organisations surveyed, the person responsible for sustainability issues did not report directly to the board, while 23 percent of organisations had no person responsible for such matters.

Francois Barrault, CEO, BT Global Services, said: "The key to helping sustainability programmes benefit society, the environment and profitability is leadership. All organisations, BT included, are at the start of this journey, but now is the time for CEOs and CFOs to lead from the front. Our own experience is that sustainability can be a win-win for all concerned – local communities, emerging economies, the environment and also the bottom line."
 
The full report, "Action or Aspiration? Sustainability in the Workplace", can be downloaded from www.biggerthinking.com/actionoraspiration .