About 12 percent of executives rated the effectiveness of their own organization's sustainability initiatives as "excellent," while 28 percent cited them as "very good."
About 25 percent of the executives said the effectiveness of their initiatives was "fair" and another 7 percent rated it as "poor," in a recent survey from Crowe Horwath LLP, The Center for Business Excellence at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University, which is located in Ohio.
Additionally, the survey of 178 sustainability executives found that 72 percent of company boards place a high priority on sustainability, and 74 percent of organizations link sustainability initiatives to their company strategies.
Of the survey’s 178 respondents, 40 percent had annual revenues above $1 billion, while 60 percent were below $1 billion, according to a press release.
Survey respondents identified four challenges to sustainability reporting:
- Inability to sufficiently measure sustainability initiatives
- Insufficient resources
- Inconsistent or unclear definitions
- Lack of a standard verification process
In another finding, the survey showed that 88 percent of the firms had an environmental sustainability initiative. (See below chart)
