Sustainability is now on every organization's agenda, although there are big differences in how companies and sectors are rated on their interpretation of environmental, social & governance (ESG) aspects and positive impact. This is according to the SD400, the annual survey by business platform MT/Sprout on how business decision-makers rate organizations' contributions to people, the environment, and good governance.
Among the best-rated organizations per main category, we find Koppert in the 'Other' category. Koppert says it is 'proactively' engaged in ESG, and also released a sustainability report for the first time this year. Among others, Doppert, from the bottles, Triodos Bank, Sunweb, and Greenpeace are also on the list of best-rated organizations in their category.
The survey was conducted by the Amsterdam Centre for Business Innovation at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) among over 2,700 business decision-makers in the Netherlands, on behalf of MT/Sprout. About 1,700 companies and institutions were tested on environmental and social sustainability and good corporate governance. The 400 companies with the highest score collectively make up the Sustainable Development 400 (SD400).
"These organizations understand that they are not just on earth for profit maximization," said research leader Henk Volberda, Professor of Strategic Management & Innovation at the UvA.
Consulting firms in sustainability, producers of sustainable consumer goods (think furniture or household appliances) and software companies provide the most sustainable frontrunners, according to the study. It is also striking that companies in so-called 'sin industries' such as oil and gas or aviation do not score as badly as expected. "Sector peers are milder about companies like KLM and Shell than the general public," says Volberda. "They reason from the transition such organizations have to go through and understand how big that task is."
Challenges
Research leader Volberda signals that it is not easy for most companies to keep sustainability high on the agenda in times of geopolitical tensions, sharp cost increases, and labor market tightness. "As the effects of climate change become increasingly visible, companies are actually scaling back sustainable ambitions."
The rise of the anti-ESG movement in the United States also worries the professor. Although, according to him, that actually argues in favor of this research. "To stay below 1.5 degrees of warming, as set out in the Paris Agreement, we need to make sustainability faster. Not slower."
Donovan van Heuven, editor-in-chief of MT/Sprout, added: "Sustainability requires boldness. Not only to set ambitious goals but also to communicate them openly. Companies are increasingly choosing to keep their lips sealed, for fear of criticism. The companies in the SD400 survey have a responsibility to avoid green-hushing. Share your cheer and failure stories so that together we can make faster progress."
Accountability
2,781 business decision-makers expressed their ratings for each of the three separate ESG domains. Furthermore, the survey respondents were able to indicate how big an impact selected organizations are making towards a sustainable economy. This depends on the type of business activities and the size of the organization. Thus, participants gave a total of 7,814 ratings to 1,709 organizations. This led to 44 rankings of different sectors. These market segments are included in the above 12 main categories.
View the full list here: www.mtsprout.nl/sd400.