SPHERA: DESPITE HEIGHTENING INVESTOR PRESSURE, FEW COMPANIES REPORT SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 (Bernama) -- Though pressure is growing from all corners — from investors, to governments, to boards of directors — companies worldwide struggle to report progress on their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals.

Indeed, just 38 per cent of businesses publicly communicate their sustainability performance, according to a new survey from Sphera®, a leading global provider of ESG performance and risk management software, data and consulting services.

According to a statement, it’s not just a matter of disclosing progress on their objectives, however; companies are also behind the curve when it comes to clearly setting their ESG goals in the first place.

Less than one-third (29 per cent) of the respondents said they set and communicated their sustainability targets, and even fewer — 16 per cent — have set emissions targets in accordance with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) framework.

This marked lack of ESG transparency highlights the persistently wide chasm between ESG promises and action in the private sector.

“Businesses have largely been left to their own devices to establish and measure their sustainability performance, leading to a constellation of voluntary frameworks that ultimately disincentivise meaningful action,” said Sphera’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Marushka.

“But with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent report providing its strongest warning yet – indicating that half-measures will no longer cut it – and the upcoming COP26 conference promising to hold the business community to account, organisations need to start making good on their promises and show tangible progress.”

In the absence of significant, enforceable regulations worldwide, companies have largely been left to voluntarily make commitments, but with no meaningful mechanisms to either measure their progress or hold themselves accountable to them.

About half (51 per cent) of companies surveyed affirm that their senior management has made sustainability commitments, but only 21 per cent say they have a clear roadmap to implementation, and just 26 per cent say they have fully integrated sustainability into their business strategy.

These findings are from Sphera’s Sustainability Survey 2021, a survey of 218 global business leaders evaluating their sustainability metrics, measurement and progress.

-- BERNAMA