Study Points to Bright and Dark Spots in Corporate Sustainability

Our thanks to Greg Gerritt for another terrific post.  We are advocates for business sustainability.  Our prism is the business side of green.  We firmly believe companies can get from being part of the problem to part of the solution.

So, we are disappointed to see many co's ride the fence of projecting a clean image versus jumping in and making positive changes.  Are we back to just corporate green washing?  Are co's not in sync with citizens on believing that change is necessary?  We hope not.

We'll give you part of this great article from Sustainable Cities Collective.  Here's the link for the balance:  http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/tcaine/310711/study-points-bright-and-dark-spots-corporate-sustainability?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sustainable+Cities+Collective+%28all+posts%29

Our dedication to the corporate engine that runs our consumer culture makes corporate perspectives on sustainability unavoidably important. It is not uncommon in this country to have localities where the vast majority of residents are diligently proactive on sustainability efforts (say recycling for example) while the participation of businesses remains tepid. With the amount of man hours and resources that companies use in order to do business, they have to be part of any equation that leads to a better outcome.

McKinsey & Company recently released results to a new survey searching for the pulse of sustainability within the world of corporate executives in the global economy. While the tone of the release is cast in a positive light, the survey results point to both the good news and the bad news relating to progress for sustainability in the corporate environment.

According to the survey, awareness is up. The word is out and its penetrating deeper into the ranks of the corporate world. So what is the impetus behind the growing force of dedication? The survey respondents gave Reputation, Cost Cutting  and Alignment as the top three reasons that their organizations address sustainability. The first two certainly make sense, but matter less when it comes to actually addressing the underlying issues of what make our society less sustainable. Becoming more environmentally responsible because sustainability “aligns with the company’s goals, mission or values” is more indicative of actual progressive change. The fact that 43% of respondents (the largest share) listed “Alignment” among these top priorities is a bright spot.