Broad Reaching Survey Shows Insight Into Both Progress and Trends In Sustainability

In the third annual “A World In Balance 2024” report by Capgemini Research Institute, 6500 consumers over the age of 18 and 2152 executives employed at 727 organizations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue were surveyed on their views, investments, and progress in sustainability. Overall findings show how organizations have prioritized investments with tangible return on investment (ROI), improved sustainable design, and doubled down on measurement.  Key regulations such as the European Union’s corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD) will drive continued investments to address regulatory compliance.

The report provides Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) with recommendations on how to accelerate their sustainability initiatives.  Moreover, the insights in the report lay out a case for business leaders in strategy, marketing finance, human resources, procurement, manufacturing, and sales to make investments in a sustainable approach. 

Progress On Sustainability Remains Steady And Impactful

Capgemini Research Institute developed a 93 question sustainability index.  Some highlights of the report include how countries such as Australia have shown the most consistent progress year over year while the Netherlands have maintained relatively consistent progress in the index.  From an industry view, consumer products manufacturing has made the most consistent progress year over year with financial services improving the most in 2024 versus 2023.

Organizations have prioritized circularity projects to achieve operational efficiency and cost savings.  The survey showed that 72% of all organizations see recycling products as a key aspect of their programs. Sustainable design creates cost savings in both the supply chain and the recovery process with 67% of executives redesigning products to have lower impact on forests.  Furthermore, the push for better measurement has led to improved methods to measure industrial process energy.

Stewardship of water resources have also yielded cost savings.  Over 75% of organizations have implemented a water stewardship program, up from 55% in 2022. On the biodiversity front, 66% of executives surveyed from the report agree their organizations invest in conserving natural habitats.  On the topic of regulations, regulations have played a key role in driving reporting and compliance, though only 38% of organizations are ready to report Scope 3 emissions.

The Bottom Line: Enter The Age Of Pragmatic Sustainability

Capgemini Research Institute’s latest report provides a clear progress report on the past three years.  External forces such as geopolitics, regulation, and pace of innovation have played a key role in shaping sentiment and investment.  With growing geo-political risk, organizations may be tempted to de-prioritize sustainability investments.

However, the opportunities to apply exponential technologies to help with sustainability bring hope that stakeholder and shareholder interests can be balanced while achieving both required and self-imposed goals to deliver more with less. Advancements in analytics, automation, and AI play a key role, however, it is the human touch required to lead organizations through this transition that brings the research finding to the forefront of pragmatic approaches that have massive improvements for society.

Your POV

How far along are you with your sustainabilty projects?  Are you ready to put these into full production?  What risks have you overcome?

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