We know this is a radical, radical departure from our last two postings, which involved river nudity and toilet seat positions (!!!). How is this post different? For one thing, the photo involves an image with someone who is fully clothed. For another it has nothing to do with toilet seats…
But (ahem) now to today’s post.
By the way: we know we lost some of you at that introduction, and you’ve already dallied back to look for the river nudity. Welcome, er, back.
Here are some interesting statistics:
93% of CEOs believe that sustainability issues will be critical to the future success of their business.
72% of CEOs cite “brand, trust and reputation” as one of the top three
factors driving them to take action on sustainability issues. Revenue growth
and cost reduction is second with 44%.
72% of CEOs see education as the global development issue most critical to
address for the future success of their business. Climate change is second
with 66%.
58% of CEOs identify consumers as the most important stakeholder group
that will impact the way they manage societal expectations. Employees were
second with 45%.
91% of CEOs report that their company will employ new technologies
(e.g., renewable energy, energy efficiency, information and communication
technologies) to address sustainability issues over the next five years.
96% of CEOs believe that sustainability issues should be fully integrated into
the strategy and operations of a company (up from 72% in 2007).
49% of CEOs cite complexity of implementation across functions as the most
significant barrier to implementing an integrated, company-wide approach to
sustainability. Competing strategic priorities is second with 48%.
88% of CEOs believe that they should be integrating sustainability through
their supply chain. Only 54% believe that this has been achieved within their
company. An almost identical performance gap is seen for subsidiaries.
86% of CEOs see “accurate valuation by investors of sustainability in longterm
investments” as important to reaching a tipping point in sustainability.
64% of CEOs see the most important role of the UN Global Compact as
sharing examples of best and emerging practices on sustainability. Guidance
on implementation is second with 51%.
This information comes from a very revealing (really? are you still focused on THAT?) report issued by the UN regarding how CEOs feel about sustainability.
The survey, conducted by Accenture, is based on more than 100 in-depth interviews with global leaders. This included 50 CEOs, chairpersons and presidents of UN Global Compact member companies, across 27 countries and representing a broad spectrum of cross industry perspectives.
The report is called, “A New Era of Sustainability” and has this subtitle: “CEO reflections on progress to date, challenges ahead and the impact of the journey toward a
sustainable economy.” Don’t worry, we provide a link at the end of the posting.
We’d especially like to draw your attention to the highest-percentage agreement area, and have you as a project manager remember that the CEO is a rather important stakeholder. Let’s look again at that statement (remembering again that 96% of CEOs agreed):
“Sustainability issues should be fully integrated into the strategy and operations of a company”.
Not just any company – their company. And note the change, just from 4 years ago – 2007 – this attribute is up a whopping 24!
In any case, here’s the most substantive point, in our opinion, which we’ll illustrate with an extract:
“CEOs believe that execution is now the real challenge to bringing about the new era of sustainability. Confidence among business leaders about their progress toward this new era is strong, and their companies are taking concrete steps toward embedded sustainability. Eighty-one percent of CEOs—compared to just 50 percent in 2007—stated that sustainability issues are now fully embedded into the strategy and operations of their company. For example, we saw cases of companies beginning to integrate sustainability issues into their executive compensation packages, as well as design and innovation functions, more than in 2007.”
It’s only a matter of time – we hope – until the connection with project management will be more cemented in place. See our other blog postings which make this point, here, and here, and here.
A New Era of Sustainability – download PDF here.
The sky is not falling. But…
We focus on projects, project management, the connection between sustainability and project management, projects, and most importantly, YOU – the project manager.
That focus includes ecological but also economic and social continuity and success – in other words, running projects that consider the long term effects of the project’s product on the enterprise financially, for its employees and customers, and for the long-term health of the planet.
We are not tree-huggers, even though the picture on the cover of our award-winning book is of a tree.
But some of our rationale for taking on our work is rooted (pun intended) in caring for our home – Earth.
And we know that there are many of you out there who are justifiably skeptics – even cynics, and deniers, when it comes to climate change. That’s fine with us. We are left-brained, engineer/scientist types and we like that type of questioning. It’s what keeps innovation going.
Still, we think it’s important to keep the project managers out there up-t0-date with news and recent findings with respect to climate change.
The most recent news, unfortunately, isn’t good. It’s downright scary.
In this article, based on findings from the UN (I can almost hear the groan from some of you, but that’s okay, too), indicates that “heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are building up so high, so fast, that some scientists now think the world can no longer limit global warming to the level world leaders have agreed upon as safe”.
And in this story, World Meteorological Deputy Secretary-General Jeremiah Lengoasa said, “With this picture in mind, even if emissions were stopped overnight globally, the atmospheric concentrations would continue for decades because of the long lifetime of these greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”.
Here’s a tip for you.
Next week, in Durban, South Africa, COP17 will take place. You don’t need to be an activist to be informed. Stay informed. Understand the language. Be conversant. Know what this may mean to your projects and to you, even if you are a skeptic, cynic, or denier. That’s going to help your OWN sustainability. If indeed you are interested and curious, then even more so, you may want to stay tuned to what comes from Durban next week.
Our book has tips on how you can bring these facts to bear on your projects.
No, the sky isn’t falling. But “the sky” is over, under, around, and inside your project. So you should know about how it affects your project and its project – and vice-verse.