Analysis and insight into environmental trends from an international survey of sustainability professionals.
Environmental sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important when it comes to key decisions on business engagement. With growing expectations among both shareholders and consumers along with new regulations, companies must look to take impactful action throughout their organisation.
As such, credibility now stands as an invaluable asset which needs to be proven accordingly. It is this key notion that forms the basis of LRQA's latest report as the findings serve to provide critical insights into how businesses are committing to environmental sustainability.
To offer a brief overview, more than 1,100 sustainability professionals across 11 countries and 13 industries were surveyed. Results have shown that there is a lack of clarity when it comes to measuring environmental sustainability. Less than half of sustainability leads admitted that they are working to an internationally-recognised standard, while more organisations require suppliers to have third-party verification (55%) than apply the requirement to themselves (46%).
These statistics alone indicate that many are relying on self-verification, which raises transparency issues in terms of monitoring and reporting progress. That said, a lack of knowledge, resourcing, complexity and cost were all cited as barriers to environmental sustainability progress.
Our report demonstrates the power of assurance for businesses, and how LRQA has the skills and global footprint to help clients overcome these obstacles.
Moving forwards, more organisations need to understand the value of third-party corroboration and how this can provide a competitive advantage. Ensuring a complete and accurate picture from the outset informs the risks and opportunities present, in order for strategies to be put in place to manage them.
To download the report, click here.
