Environmental Strategist, between the lines: As this competitive environmental intelligence points out “A ranking of leading companies, based on the quality of their sustainability reporting, has identified a shift from risk management towards an “entrepreneurial approach” to sustainability. ” meaning business is moving beyond just meeting government standards. Business is learning that proactively addressing their environmental issues will assist in producing and delivering a better product or service while increasing profits. Bottom line, sustainable businesses are positioned to be more competitive in today’s business environment.
Through development and execution of an environmental Management Strategy (eMS) business is able to gain a competitive advantage over reactive businesses still struggling to just meet government compliance. A big part of the struggle has to do with reporting requirements and the volumes of forms, documents, certificates, required as part of the reporting.
For the past 18 years I have observed businesses struggle in meeting government compliance. That struggle is why that made me include the eRAM (environmental Risk Assessment Management) tool on www.estrategist.com. eRAM’s purpose is to manage documents and communicate with TEAM members. Below this competitive intelligence you will find a tutorial on environmental Strategist Online eRAM tool. As a certified environmental Strategist (eS) professional, you will have daily access to eRAM and the eS controls eRAM.
If a business wants to be viewed as a leader it must have an eMS. An eMS addresses environmental transparency.
Share this competitive environmental intelligence with businesses of all shapes and sizes, impacted by direct or indirect environmental issues.
Corporate sustainability pioneers are ‘creating value’
Environmental Finance, 9 November 2006 – A ranking of leading companies, based on the quality of their sustainability reporting, has identified a shift from risk management towards an “entrepreneurial approach” to sustainability.
Tommorrow’s Value is the fourth biannual report from London-based consultancy SustainAbility that ranks companies according to their governance, strategy, management, and presentation of sustainability issues.
UK telecoms firm BT headed the list of 50 leading reporters, half of which were new this year. A small but growing group of non-OECD companies made a strong showing, with two companies – South African miner Anglo Platinum and Hong Kong transport firm MTR – ranking in the top 10, compared with zero in 2004.
While the majority of the leading 50 companies identified in the report still take a conservative, risk-focused approach to their sustainability strategies, 14 companies are developing and disclosing strategies that aim to exploit market opportunities.
“It’s a sign of a fundamental shift,” said Matt Loose, manager of the global reports programme at SustainAbility which produced the report together with the UN Environment Programme and ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.
“Companies who can produce scaleable solutions to sustainability have huge potential markets. We could see a more rapid solution to sustainability challenges,” he said.
Loose cited the example of General Electric, which has recently launched its ‘Ecomagination’ strategy that is “very much focused on value creation”. Dutch electronics giant Philips even titled its 2005 sustainability report Creating Value , he said.
Companies that are overly focused on accountability and risk could find themselves marked down as laggards by analysts who are seeking opportunities for growth, the report warned.
While the general quality of sustainability reporting has improved, companies are “missing an opportunity to address their investors”, Loose said. Around 70% of companies reported interaction with investors on sustainability matters. However, many lacked hard targets and forward-looking information.
Companies are doing much better at integrating sustainability factors into their core decision-making processes, the report found, with at least 80% of companies considering at least one aspect of their sustainability issues in major decisions.
Public policy initiatives and disclosure remain weak, the report said, with only 14 of the leading 50 reporters sufficiently disclosing their lobbying activities. Nonetheless, this result was a “major advance” on recent years.
This article is reproduced with kind permission of Environmental Finance magazine.
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