Six growing trends in corporate sustainability

An Ernst & Young Survey in Cooperation with GreenBiz Group

This report summarizes results based primarily on a survey by GreenBiz Group of executives and thought leaders in the area of corporate environmental strategy and performance.

The survey covered a wide range of topics related to corporate sustainability and reporting. From these topics, Ernst & Young distilled six key trends, which are explained in this report. The survey tells us that company and stakeholder interest in corporate sustainability reporting continues to rise, although the tools are still in their infancy. CFOs are emerging as key players in sustainability, and, surprisingly, employees are too: they are second only to customers as drivers of company sustainability initiatives.

These trends suggest that sustainability efforts are now well-integrated into the corporate fabric of a growing number of large and midsized companies. But the effectiveness of such efforts may be limited by internal systems that don’t allow companies to effectively measure, track and optimize their sustainability impacts, or to understand and manage the risks of insufficient action. To do so will require new levels of engagement by the C-suite, and more sophisticated methods of sustainability reporting and assurance.

Join our webcast on March 19 to learn how doing business as a green company can yield cost savings, tax benefits, operational efficiencies and more.