At the end of 2022, we conducted a sustainability survey for businesses and public sector organisations. The aim was to get as good an idea as possible of the current situation of companies on issues such as:
– What sustainability issues are currently on the agenda of the organisations?
– What help or information do they need for decision-making in 2023?
– Where is sustainability information being obtained, how is the available information perceived and where is there a particular need for more information?
Background information
We sent the survey to a total of 50 companies. The following sectors responded to the questionnaire:
- Specialist and consultancy services
- Trade and commerce
- Industry
- Circular economy
- Culture and arts
In the survey, we divided sustainability into four areas – people, environment, society and customers. This is a familiar pattern from the B Corp certificate, which Fabrik and many other companies around the world use in sustainability projects. Read more about B Corp and sustainability certification on our website.
Business vs Public Sector
It was a pleasure to see how many organisations have already started working on sustainability. As many as 83% of respondents said that sustainability is at the heart of their business.
There were a few differences of emphasis in the responses on the topics. 91% of companies responded that environmental issues were in the pipeline, with the same figure for human resources-related sustainability issues. On the other hand, the emphasis on social issues is lower at 75%.
We also asked what issues are particularly on the agenda at the moment in the different areas. Below are highlights of the responses:
What is the need for information and where is it sought?
When we asked what the need for sustainability information will be in 2023, the most popular responses were on sustainability reporting and the CSRD (Social Resbonsibilty Directive: Directive on the promotion of sustainability in management systems and its reporting). The need for ESG information also emerged clearly in the responses.
We also found it particularly interesting to ask where sustainability information is currently being sought. Here are the top 10 of the information search:
- Webinars 83 %
- Events and seminars 83 %
- Blog articles 67 %
- News sites 67 %
- Training/workshops 67%
- LinkedIn 50 %
- Literature 50 %
- Newsletters 33%
- Podcasts 25 %
- Websites 17 %
It was also clear from the survey that people already know how to find information from credible sources; 100% of respondents considered the information available to them to be reliable. However, there is still room for improvement in the clarity of information, with 73% of respondents finding the available information clear.
Survey take-aways
1) Take a holistic view of corporate responsibility – it is worth considering how this is currently implemented in your organisation.
2) There is understandably a lot of interest in sustainability reporting. Through EU legislation, regulation of larger companies will increase in the coming years, but consumer and stakeholder demand for holistic accountability and transparency is a theme that SMEs and organisations should already be responding to.
3) Aim for clarity in your own sustainability communication – it benefits everyone from consumers to employees
Thank you for your interest! If you are interested in hearing more about this topic in the future, please join our newsletter list. We will also keep you informed about upcoming sustainability events, such as our webinars.
