Corporations play an important part in the race for sustainability and meeting climate goals. Yet, despite this awareness, corporations still face a challenge in getting investors engaged on sustainability, according to a joint survey by Accenture and the United Nations Global Compact. A good company to emulate would be pencil-makers Faber-Castell, which has been recognised by the United Nations to be the world’s first private company to deal in carbon dioxide certificates from managed forests. Read more

Sneak preview of global CEO survey shows it is still a struggle to engage investors on sustainability

By Peter Lacy for Guardian Professional (14 August 2013):

Once every three years, Accenture joins forces with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) to conduct the most comprehensive global study in existence on corporate views on sustainability.

In addition to in-depth interviews with 76 CEOs and a survey over of 1000 CEOs globally, we also conduct detailed assessments of investor and consumer attitudes to sustainability. We present the results in September at the UNGC Leaders’ Summit in New York. But some of the early findings are in.

Back in 2010, the last time we conducted the study, we heard a common refrain from CEOs: “We’d like to do more on sustainability,” they said, “but investors just don’t care.” This year, we set out to uncover how this relationship has changed, and understand the role that investors are playing in companies’ efforts to align business performance with sustainability leadership.

Before we began our programme of interviews with business leaders, we asked sustainability professionals, academics and civil society leaders what they thought we should be asking. Many of the suggestions we received focused on the role of investors:

• Do you think your share price currently includes any value directly related to sustainability?

• How many times have you gone on record to the analyst community to explain to them how your sustainability programme is generating value – and what did you tell them?

• How big an impediment are financial markets in terms of decisions where there is a trade-off between sustainability and profit?

• What changes could be made in the financial system to encourage companies and individuals to prioritise sustainability?

• What do you need from your investors to allow you to progress further with transforming your business towards a truly sustainable one?

Our conversations this year suggest that the investment community may be beginning to pay greater heed to sustainability. As one senior business leader put it: “We still find it challenging to convey to mainstream investors why and how sustainability can drive value creation, but they’re starting to appreciate the risks of working in an unsustainable system.”

But our survey data suggests that the pace of change may be slow: just 7% of CEOs in the communications industry, for example, regard investors as an important voice in guiding their approach to sustainability. And with signs that CEOs themselves may be struggling to quantify the value of sustainability to their business, we are seeing a more equivocal assessment than ever of the power of markets to find solutions to sustainability challenges.

Through our in-depth interviews and quantitative survey data across 27 industries and more than 100 countries, we’ll be looking to uncover the true dynamic between companies and investors on sustainability: how companies can communicate better; how investors can approach sustainability differently; how we can assess and value performance on sustainability; and how we can collectively align market incentives with sustainable development.

Early next year we will again be teaming up with the UNGC, and also the UN backed Principles for Responsible Investment, to conduct a parallel investor survey with their members, whose total assets under managements comes in at over $8 trillion. We hope to report on these additional findings in the autumn but in the meantime, we’d like to know what you think.

Get involved

How do you see investor approaches changing? Can companies communicate more effectively on the business value of sustainability? Let us know your views, join the conversation at @actsustainably, and watch this space as we build towards the launch of the UNGC-Accenture CEO Study on 19 September.

Peter Lacy is the managing director of Accenture Sustainability Services in Asia Pacific

Source: www.theguardian.com

Faber-Castell proves sustainable manufacturing has competitive edge

ecovoice (5 August 2013):

One of the oldest industrial manufacturing companies and family-owned businesses in the world, Faber-Castell, has enjoyed yet another year of healthy growth, after pioneering sustainable practices that have seen the business named by the United Nations as the world’s first private company to deal in carbon dioxide certificates from managed forests.

Creating a competitive edge from a true commitment to sustainable and socially responsible practices has proven to make good business sense as well as drive profitable results according to Australian based Regional Director for Faber-Castell, Count Andreas (Andy) von Faber-Castell.

Count Andy, an eighth generation descendant of the company founder, has personally overseen the introduction of self sustaining and community enhanced FSC-FM certified pine forests in Brazil and Colombia that have directly contributed to the prestigious United Nations accolade.

The South American forest projects contribute to around 75 per cent of the company’s global wood needs for the production of over three billion pencils globally a year. They also see over 70 farmers and their communities engaged in guaranteed employment, regeneration of their previously degraded lands from overuse as stock grazing lands, and a share of profits from the fast growing forest products harvested for Faber-Castell pencils.

The global and local corporate policy on quality, environment and social responsibility was introduced decades ago, and Andy believes it was potentially easier to embed in a family run business that is intuitively focused on legacies of fortune and sustainability for future generations. But such a large globally competitive business also means these policies have to be accountable in the here and now for profitability, growth and competitive advantage. Faber-Castell is a world-leading example proving the way in these attributes.

“As a family company now in its eighth generation of ownership, Faber-Castell understands the importance of ensuring the resources are there for future generations by providing a sustainable quality product,” said Count Andy.

Count Andy said the company’s long term investment and belief in social and environmental practices was well balanced with its position as a premium, high quality manufacturer and had proved to be good business practice with a global group turn-over of 570 million Euros in the fiscal year 2011/12, up 6% on the previous fiscal year and the 12/13 fiscal year achieved a 600 million Euro turn-over.

“We’re a long-standing business not interested in short-term profit-seeking, so the ability to generate sustained profit is vital. For me, business and integrity go hand in hand and the integrity that embodies values such as social and ecological responsibility, trust, honesty and fairness is fully compatible with profitability,” said Count Andy.

Unlike other companies who have been forced to use wood blends in their pencils due to diminishing wood supply figures, Faber-Castell’s sustainable plantations ensure all pencils are of ecological and superior quality. The long-term gains are the result of an ecological commitment from as early on as 1926 when Faber-Castell began recycling its use of paint solvents and use of wood waste for electricity. This longstanding commitment has resulted in some impressive figures, including:

75% of the total quantity of timber required by Faber-Castell can be covered by its own certified forests

A recycling proportion of 88% throughout the companies

More than 60% of all packaging elements are made from cardboard

The company covers the predominant part of the energy required from wood waste and water power

To further its sustainable culture, plastic waste materials from production are almost completely re-used and by separating the waste into up to 28 different material groups.

In addition to environmental awareness, Faber-Castell also has a global commitment to social responsibility. In 2000, it signed an international binding agreement with German trade union IG Metall to guarantee conditions of employment and labour in all companies of the Faber-Castell group around the world. The Social Charter comprises a ban on child labour, equal opportunities and equal treatment of employees regardless of race, religion, sex or nationality, guarantee of safe and hygienic working conditions, and payment of adequate wages under decent working conditions.

Source: www.ecovoice.com.au and www.faber-castell.com