PwC's Annual Corporate Directors Survey cites criteria for future corporate boards: PwC

PwC's Annual Corporate Directors Survey cites criteria for future corporate boards: PwC

What Do 'Sustainability' Executives Do? Let Us Know: Survey

Many companies now have chief sustainability officers or the equivalent. What roles do they play? That's the question we're asking today as we launch a new survey.

In less than a decade, sustainability has gone from a feel-good buzzword most people associate with environmentalism or community involvement to a movement among global companies to secure natural resources and top employees for their long-term survival.

See full Article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-09/what-do-sustainability-executives-do-let-us-know-survey.html

Korn/Ferry NACD Annual Survey of Board Leadership 2013

As part of a shared commitment to corporate governance research intended to illuminate best practices for companies and their shareholders, Korn/Ferry International and the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) joined forces to publish the Korn/Ferry NACD Annual Survey of Board Leadership. For the survey, we examined board leadership structures across a wide spectrum of US companies – the S&P 500 and the S&P MidCap 400 – to ensure an understanding of all changes and trends in board leadership during 2011.

Amid the growing chorus of voices calling for public companies to separate the roles of CEO and Chairman, we hope to provide a reliable and growing statistical reference for boards making crucial leadership decisions. Unlike the UK, US companies have the latitude to consider which board leadership model is best for their shareholders, and we believe that flexibility is important to maintain so that boards can tailor leadership to the needs of their company.

See full Details: http://www.kornferryinstitute.com/reports-insights/kornferry-nacd-annual-survey-board-leadership-2013

Globescan Regeneration roadmap

A Green Economy would have a more positive impact on major economic, social and environmental problems than today's economy, according to two new global surveys of consumers and thought leaders released today. The polls, conducted by The Regeneration Roadmap in partnership with UNEP, surveyed 17,000 consumers across 17 countries and 1,600 sustainable development experts from business, civil society, government and academia from 117 countries. Consumers worldwide say a Green Economy will be more effective than the traditional economy in improving nearly every challenge tested. Ratings are especially high for protecting the environment (70%), creating a better future for our children (68%), improving quality of life (61%) and addressing climate change (61%). See full Press Release.

Climate Change Policy Options: Beyond Kyoto

At the end of this year the first commitment of the Kyoto Protocol will expire having failed to get carbon emissions down to a safe level. The main success appeared to be that the international policy process managed to stay on track despite the near breakdown of negotiations at COP15 in Copenhagen. As we move into the post-Kyoto period we still have a climate change challenge that looms larger than ever and the governments of the world still have no clear plan to address it. So what next? To better understand what it will take to make real progress on getting carbon reductions down to a safe level SustainAbility and GlobeScan surveyed more than 800 sustainability experts and practitioners located in more than 70 countries (as part of The GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey), asking for their views on climate-change policy. We asked respondents to rank the effectiveness of various mechanisms to address climate change, those that garnered most support – economic instruments, regulatory approaches and technology development – are those that will change the cost of emitting greenhouse gas emissions and, consequently, change the economics of energy. See full Report.

National Geographic Explores the World of Green Consumers:

Worldwide, Consumers Who Feel Most Guilty About Their Environmental Impact Are Least to Blame Americans Are Least Green and Among Those Feeling Least Guilty A new global analysis released today by the National Geographic Society finds that U.S. consumers rank last of 17 countries surveyed in sustainable behavior, with a score of 44.7 on the 2012 Greendex. U.S. consumers are among the least likely to feel “guilty about the impact” they have on the environment (21%), yet they are near the top in believing their individual choices could make a difference (47%). See full Press Release.

Green, grow or guilt?

JUDGING from the bun fights at international conferences on the environment, the West appreciates the need to go green while emerging economies prefer growth. However a survey released this week of consumer actions and attitudes overturns this customary narrative. The latest National Geographic and GlobeScan survey, called the Greendex, shows nearly diametrically opposed behaviours and opinions between people in rich, industrialised countries and poor, developing ones. When the data from 17 countries are plotted on a chart, it forms an eerily consistent, near-linear, roughly 45 degree slope. See full Article.

Consumer Choice and the Environment a A Worldwide Tracking Survey

What Is the Greendex? You've heard about it for years now—everyone’s interested in being green. But do you really know how your personal choices are adding up? What about the choices of your fellow citizens? What behaviors are people adopting globally that have a positive impact on environmental sustainability? What has changed—and what hasn’t—in the past few years? This is the fourth year National Geographic has partnered with GlobeScan to develop an international research approach to measure and monitor consumer progress toward environmentally sustainable consumption. The key objectives of this unique consumer tracking survey are to provide regular quantitative measures of consumer behavior and to promote sustainable consumption. See full Press Release.

Global Risks 2012

The world's vulnerability to economic shocks and social upheaval risks undermining the progress that globalization has brought, according to "Global Risks 2012," the flagship report from the World Economic Forum's Risk Response Network, published in cooperation with Marsh & McLennan Companies, the parent company of Oliver Wyman, and other partners. Based on a survey of 469 experts and industry leaders, the report finds that chronic fiscal imbalances and severe income disparity are the risks that are rated most likely to occur over the next 10 years, while a systemic financial crisis and food and water shortages are seen to have the highest potential impact over the same period. Compared with a year ago, the results show a shift of concern from environmental risks to socio-economic ones. See full Press Release.

Oliver Wyman 2012 AFP Risk Survey

Financial executives expect the higher level of earnings uncertainty that they have experienced in the last several years to continue, or increase, according to the “2012 AFP Risk Survey,” the first in a series of annual risk management surveys to be published by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) with collaboration from the Global Risk Center of the Oliver Wyman Group. Based on a survey of 435 CFOs, corporate treasurers and other senior finance executives across North America, the report examines five categories of risks to organizations’ earnings: Financial, macroeconomic, operational, external and commodities. See full Press Release.

As Gas Prices Pinch, Support for Oil and Gas Production Grows | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Those Aware of Fracking Favor Its Use

Overview

At a time of rising gas prices, the public’s energy priorities have changed. More Americans continue to view the development of alternative energy sources as a higher priority than the increased production of oil, coal and natural gas, but the gap has narrowed considerably over the past year.

Moreover, support for allowing more offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters, which plummeted during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has recovered to pre-spill levels. Nearly two-thirds (65%) favor allowing increased offshore drilling, up from 57% a year ago and 44% in June 2010, during the Gulf spill.

See full Press Release.

Modest Rise in Number Saying There Is “Solid Evidence” of Global Warming

More Moderate Republicans See Evidence of Warming

There has been a modest increase over the past two years in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence of global warming, although substantially fewer Americans say there is solid evidence of global warming than did so from 2006 to 2008.

Currently, 63% say there is solid evidence that that the earth's average temperature has been getting warmer over the past few decades. In October 2009, 57% expressed this view. During 2006 to 2008, more than seven-in-ten Americans believed there was solid evidence of global warming.

See full Article.

New Catalyst Study Links More Women Leaders to Greater Corporate Social Responsibility

A new study conducted by researchers at Catalyst and Harvard Business School (HBS) suggests that what’s good for women is good for business and also for society as a whole. According to Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility: It’s a Matter of Sustainability, companies with more women at the top may be better practitioners of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Prior Catalyst research has shown that such companies also financially outperform, on average, those with fewer women in senior leadership roles.

“Companies are realizing that advancing more women to senior leadership roles has many benefits, including increased financial performance and sustainability,” said Anabel Pérez, Senior Vice President, Development, Catalyst. “As this study shows, inclusive leadership has a positive influence on the quantity and quality of an organization’s CSR initiatives. When business leadership includes women, society wins.”

See full Article.

Global warming 'confirmed' by independent study

The Earth's surface really is getting warmer, a new analysis by a US scientific group set up in the wake of the "Climategate" affair has concluded.

The Berkeley Earth Project has used new methods and some new data, but finds the same warming trend seen by groups such as the UK Met Office and Nasa.

The project received funds from sources that back organisations lobbying against action on climate change.

See full Article.

Compliance mindset suppresses effective communication

I thought you would be interested in the article below that appeared in last week’s Accountancy Age. PwC’s recently launched snapshot of the FTSE 350 reporting practices here in the UK; is referenced throughout the article. I would encourage you to read this snapshot of the survey findings, which doesn’t make pleasant reading. We recognise that reporting is not made easy by the regulatory demands imposed on all companies today, but sadly too many reports display the dead hands of compliance and the editorial committee. While a few companies have cut through the historic clutter and the short-term financials to create a strategic picture of the business that is informative and convincing, they are the minority.

See full Article.

Ethical consumers preferring the carrot over the stick

The latest GlobeScan tracking data suggest that a shift may be taking place among ethical consumers, from a focus on punishing irresponsible companies to one characterized by rewarding those companies seen as socially or environmentally responsible.

Since the early years of the last decade, there has been a marked increase in self-reported rewarding and punishing of companies on ethical grounds by consumers across 14 developing and industrialized countries. The numbers punishing companies have been much more volatile, however, likely driven by the periodic emergence of high-profile scandals affecting individual companies. But since 2005 such punishment, rather than reward, has been the dominant expression of ethical consumerism.

See full Press Release.

Sustainability Experts’ Views: Resource Agenda Will Continue to Dominate

Energy issues are seen by sustainability experts as the most important sustainable development challenge facing their country, the latest findings from the SustainAbility Survey reveal. But the findings also highlight some significant differences from region to region in perceptions of what the pressing issues are, and confirm that use of resources of all kinds is likely to dominate the agenda as emerging economies continue to develop.

Several times a year, GlobeScan and SustainAbility interview a panel of experts from around the world who work on sustainability issues within corporations, NGOs, academia, government departments, and scientific institutions. They are regularly asked to predict what the most critical sustainability issues will be over the months and years to come.

See full Press Release.

2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies | Exchanges

Select 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies visited the NYSE to recognize the connection between ethical business practice and increased business performance. In honor of the occasion, The Ethisphere Institute rang The Opening BellSM with select NYSE-listed 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies.

*Recognizing Ethics’ Role in Creating Corporate Value*

Ethisphere, a leading international think tank dedicated to advancing best practices in corporate ethics, will follow the bell ringing with the Ethics Drives Performance conference, hosted in cooperation with NYSE Euronext, during which leaders from the 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies will share insights and best practices for prioritizing ethics to grow the bottom line. The complete agenda for the conference can be found at:

See full Press Release.

Global Concern for Climate Change Dips Amid Other Environmental and Economic Concerns

Global concern about climate change has taken a back-seat to other environmental issues such as air and water pollution, water shortages, packaging waste and use of pesticides, according to the 2011 Sustainable Efforts & Environmental Concerns report from Nielsen, which surveyed more than 25,000 Internet respondents in 51 countries.

The bi-annual report shows that while 69 percent of global online consumers say they are concerned about climate change/global warming (up from 66 percent in 2009, but down from 72 percent in 2007), concern for other environmental issues are increasingly taking a higher priority in the minds of consumers.

See full Article.

Governance since the economic crisis: McKinsey Global Survey results

Corporate directors know what they should be doing. But they haven’t raised their game since 2008 and must strengthen their capabilities and spend more time on board work.

Corporate boards are under pressure to take more responsibility for developing strategy and overseeing business risk after the financial crisis exposed many cases of inadequate governance.1 Yet, according to the latest McKinsey Quarterly survey on governance,2 directors report that their boards have not increased the time spent on company strategy since our previous survey, conducted in February 2008—seven months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Moreover, 44 percent of respondents say their boards simply review and approve management’s proposed strategies. Just one-quarter characterize their boards’ overall performance as excellent or very good; even so, the share of boards that formally evaluate their directors has dropped over the past three years.

See full Article.