Sustainability and sustainable development are concepts that are becoming increasingly important. Each organization’s stakeholders want to know what actions the company is taking on sustainability. However, due to the lack of understanding and confusion about what sustainability really is, the action toward sustainable strategies is very limited.
A recent study conducted by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Accenture Management Consulting shows that, even though 82% of global CEOs believe that sustainability is a crucial key in transforming the world’s major economy, more than 67% of them think that their business is not doing enough about addressing global sustainability issues.
Why do we still have confusion?
Sustainability is a term that everyone uses but yet it still remains very vague. Everyone is using it and each one has a different idea of what it actually means. For many, sustainability means philanthropy, for others public relations and for others simply following regulations or simply doing good for the environment. No one of this is right though. Most professionals fail to see this problem, so the need to improve their knowledge and take it to the next level is actually non-existing. This is a major barrier in practically implementing sustainability strategies and it leads to tremendous stakeholder value loss.
Lead by example:
Despite the existing confusion about what sustainability really stands for, there are a few companies that have the best CSR practices and reputations. According to a Forbes magazine article, entitled “The 10 companies with the best CSR reputations,” the top 3 companies with the best CSR reputations are:
1. Microsoft
2. Google
3. The Walt Disney Company
Dan Bross, Senior Director of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Microsoft, a company that has already attended CSE’s certified sustainability practitioner training, mentioned during his interview with Forbes that to become a responsible global corporate citizen the company has taken a holistic approach. “It’s not a top-down effort and it’s not just a grassroots effort – it is important to all of us.”
The solution:
Trends and legislation in sustainability change very quickly. Leading companies, non-for profits, governmental agencies, as well as individuals seeking to enter the sustainability field have already found the solution and attended CSE’s Advanced Certified Sustainability Practitioner Training.
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