Does sustainability really impact your business?
Does it lead to higher sales, or employee retention?
Better brand value?
The answer according to a recent study by ERM Sustainability Institute, Salesforce and GlobeScan, shows the answer to be a resounding “yes”.
More than 70 per cent of the companies studied reported a clear link between better brand perception and sustainable practices, more than 60 per cent reported improved employee attraction and retention; and more than 50 per cent citing higher sales and lower costs.
For the report, the study surveyed 320 senior professionals, including 75 per cent at the C-Suite level, director, and management levels, across a wide range of sectors and regions. The report follows a similar survey released in 2024 by Salesforce and Globescan.
Finance and technology were seen as the key functions within organizations for sustainability progress, as cited by more than 75 per cent of respondents as important. Within these functions, 61 per cent of finance leaders and 46 per cent of IT said that sustainability considerations ranked “high” or “very high” in their decision-making.
Despite the centrality of finance and technology to sustainability actions, however, respondents reported low levels of confidence in their sustainability skills, with only 32 per cent of finance leaders and 23 per cent of IT reporting “high” or “very high” sustainability understanding.
The study found that 37 per cent of respondents indicate sustainability is deeply integrated into the core of their organizations. These are also the companies that generate significantly more value on every aspect of sustainability. For example, two-thirds of these firms report that their sustainability actions are delivering high value through increased sales compared with fewer than two in five of their less-integrated peers.
The perceived value of sustainability on growing sales is one of the most significant differences between these and other firms, reflecting how to demonstrate measurable impacts that clearly support the business case.
Half these companies have access to high-quality sustainability data compared with only 18 per cent amongst other respondents. Robust business cases backed by high-quality data also benefit departments like R&D and supply chain, as they implement sustainability. Co-owning the sustainability agenda among the finance, IT, and sustainability functions facilitates delivery of shared priorities, the study suggested.
