Sustainability issues are at the forefront of corporate agendas across the world. Investors, board members and consumers are all curious as to what practices companies are using to remain sustainable.
“Twenty years ago, there were very few businesses that even knew what sustainability was,” says Bill Ford, executive chairman at Ford Motor Company told The Guardian. “If they did, they were pretty much against it. Today, you’d be hard-pressed to find a business that doesn’t understand the importance of it.”
A new survey, released by Accenture and the United Nations Global Compact, showed that 93% of CEOs realize that sustainability issues are important to the future success of the companies that they lead. Additionally. 81% of CEOs surveyed believe that sustainability issues are fully embedded into their companies’ strategy and operations, with many moving focus to their supply chains.
Are these companies really implementing processes in their everyday practices?
John Elkington, founder of SustainAbility and Volans, explained to The Guardian that while CEOs have appointed CSOs and complete annual reports, they are not looking at sustainability as a transformative agenda.
Where does your company stand on this? Do you go beyond annual reports?