As part of SustainAbility’s Rate the Raters initiative, GlobeScan and SustainAbility polled sustainability experts about key sustainability ratings, rankings and indices.
This article was originally published on GreenBiz.com, as part of our Proof Points blog series. 7 January 2014 – “Materiality” was 2013’s sustainability buzzword. This is largely due to the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G4 framework, launched in May, that moved the concept of materiality into the heart of sustainability reporting and consequently into the bedrock of sustainability strategy. According to the GRI, material issues are those that have “direct or indirect impact on an organization’s ability to create, preserve or erode economic, environmental and … “New Survey Helps Move “Materiality” Beyond the Buzzword”
Findings from The 2013 Issues Survey, a GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey. Sustainability professionals share which issues are most urgent, how industries are responding, and who is most accountable.
Findings from The 2013 Sustainability Leaders: A GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey.
Findings from the latest GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey of sustainability experts.
In this fifth phase of SustainAbility’s Rate the Raters initiative, GlobeScan contributes to a survey of 850 sustainability experts across 70 countries, on issues such as whether particular ratings are credible and why.
An exploration of climate change policy options, from The GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey.
New findings from The 2012 Sustainability Leaders: A GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey.
The last year has seen an increased profile for activism of all types. Sometimes this has manifested against the practices of corporations (such as the ongoing Occupy movement) while at others the targets are governments, as with the Arab Spring and Wikipedia’s online protest against proposed US anti-piracy legislation.
GlobeScan and SustainAbility recently polled an international panel of experts in sustainability on what they considered the most effective activist tactics to be. As the chart above shows, the panel (drawn from businesses, NGOs, government and academia) rated tactics that focus on key business value drivers as the most effective in influencing corporate behaviour: product boycotts (or on the flip-side, preferential purchasing) for their impact on sales and shareholder activism for its effect on access to capital. The most confrontational tactic – civil disobedience – is seen as the least effective by some distance, while the more collaborative method of dialogue with companies is rated the second-least effective.
With experts also rating socially responsible investors – a group in a particularly strong position to shape companies’ business value drivers – as the most important audience for businesses and government to pay attention to, the pressure on companies to respond to different agendas as they move towards sustainability looks likely to increase.
Finding from The 2011 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
Sustainability experts strongly believe that companies have a duty to practice “choice editing” for consumers, the lastest GlobeScan/SustainAbility tracking reveals.
GlobeScan and SustainAbility regularly poll a panel of experts in sustainability issues across businesses, NGOs, government, and academia on emerging trends in sustainability. The panel was polled during September about their perspective on sustainable consumption, and the results reveal that while experts feel strongly that sustainable consumption is achievable, they have doubts about the degree to which it is compatible with economic growth, and also feel that companies have a duty to hasten the transition by restricting the choices available to consumers. Nearly four in five (78%) think that businesses have a duty to offer sustainable product lines instead of, rather than as well as, unsustainable ones.
With sustainable options still associated with premium pricing in many sectors, this perspective is likely to be challenging for companies, particularly during hard economic times, but it reflects how the terms of the debate are shifting. Another challenge is that GlobeScan consumer tracking also reveals that many people are skeptical about the claims that companies make for the responsible credentials of their products, citing “greenwash” as a major barrier to adopting more responsible consumer behavior. Sustainability champions within businesses will need to address both these issues if “choice editing” is to become a reality.
Finding from The 2011 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)