Over 30 percent of businesses globally yet to Implement Sustainability Plans, finds KPMG report

April 18, 2011: There is widespread and growing acceptance of the increasing value that sustainability programs have in the private sector today, yet over 30 percent of businesses do not have a strategy for sustainable growth in place, according to a survey from KPMG’s global Climate Change and Sustainability practice.

Just over 60 percent of companies surveyed said that they currently have a working strategy for corporate sustainability - up from just over half polled in a similar survey in 2008. Yet, nearly 50 percent of all executives surveyed believe that implementing sustainability programs will contribute to the bottom line, either by cost reduction or increased profitability.

The survey captured three main reasons for slow progress on sustainability:

* A lack of common set metrics and tools – and information systems- for measurement and analysis of the impact of sustainability programs

* A lack of available financing that will put sustainability on par with operational programs that have a higher short-term return on investment (ROI)

* A lack of a clear and rigorous international framework of regulation within which companies can plan with confidence.



Larger, publicly listed companies are much more likely to have adopted a strategy than their smaller, privately held counterparts.

On the issue of financing sustainability initiatives, the survey revealed some innovative new methods, where energy producers, for example, are using financing methods to promote efficiency, and bundling up projects with longer and shorter payback cycles into a basket of investments that will meet the firm’s payback requirements.

NOTE:- Corporate sustainability: A progress report is a KPMG research paper, conducted in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit. This progress report, a survey of 378 senior executives representing a range of industries evenly split between the US and Canada, Asia Pacific and Europe, with contributions from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.



Banknet Group has produced a CSR (social awareness) short film to encourage people from villages to open accounts with banks & to promote financial inclusion. Theme of film is “Har Ghar Mein Ho Khata (Every household needs to have a bank account). We aim to assist the industry in their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives by coming up with relevant TVCs, short films, theatre shows & events.... Read more

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