Sustainability in Business Today: A Cross-Industry View

This report from Deloitte Consulting explores how sustainability professionals at 48 companies in the U.S. address green and triple-bottom-line issues.

From the foreword to the report:

What is the state of sustainability in business today? The answer, as suggested by Deloitte’s multi-industry survey of 48 executives who oversaw sustainability efforts at their companies, may depend on how one interprets the results. Our conversations with respondents left no doubt in our mind that these companies are interested and involved in sustainability, and most of them see a clear alignment between sustainability and their overall business strategy. On the other hand, our survey also suggests that many companies have a clear gap between their leaders’ aspirations with regard to sustainability and the way that sustainability is enabled within their organizations.

 

 

That such a gap may exist is hardly surprising, considering how quickly sustainability issues have been evolving in the marketplace and the challenges involved in building the infrastructure to address them. We view it as a positive sign that many companies we interviewed saw sustainability as a priority and had devoted thought to the strategic implications of sustainability for their businesses. As we see it, the challenge now is for companies to find ways to close the distance between their stated sustainability principles and the actions and investments they make to pursue their sustainability objectives – particularly in those instances where sustainability objectives may lack a clear financial return on investment (ROI) or drive long-term rather than short-term benefits.

For more information on Deloitte’s sustainability research and consulting, visit www.Deloitte.com/US/Sustainability.