Ethical Corporation, September 2014
Sustainability goals are aligning with business.
The number of chief executives who consider sustainability a high priority for their company has jumped significantly,
but is still less than half of CEOs, according to a McKinsey report. The consultants found that 13% of CEOs now
say sustainability is their number one priority, compared with 5% in 2012, while 36% place it in the top three, compared
to 37% in 2012. The McKinsey survey also tracks a change in attitude about sustainability – CEOs are now less
likely to see it as primarily an exercise in cost-cutting and energy efficiency,
and are more likely to believe that the challenge is to align their company’s
business goals with sustainability goals. Companies should be clearer about their
sustainability strategies, understand resource constraints and extend their
product lifecycles, and make maximum use of technology to boost sustainability, McKinsey says.
