By Celsias Team
Posted on July 16, 2010. Listed in:
The economic storm weathered last year has done little to deter businesses from taking a staunch stand on sustainability, according to the 2010 Fairfax Media-ShapeNZ survey.
Preliminary results of the second annual sustainable business practice survey show that 75 percent of business decision makers think companies should balance making a profit with contributing to the broader public good.
New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development chief executive Peter Neilson says the survey shows New Zealand's deeply held view that organisations should make a profit - but also look after the environment and our society.
"Globally, chief executives see sustainability as one area where doing the right thing is helping reduce costs and lift profits when revenue is hardly moving.
"For business, sustainability is about getting a balance between profit, people and the planet," says Neilson.
The results are in direct correlation with a recently released research report by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture, which surveyed 766 of the world’s top chief executives. Key findings from the report show that within a decade, a tipping point could be reached that fully integrates sustainability with core business – its capabilities, processes and systems, and throughout global supply chains and subsidiaries.
In fact, 80 percent of the chief executives surveyed say last years economic downturn has raised the importance of sustainability in their business. In a similar survey conducted in 2007, 50 percent of the chief executive respondents said that sustainability issues had become part of their company’s strategy and operation. That number jumped to 81 percent in the 2010 survey.
Image: Flickr - puroticorico
