The Financial Value of Sustainability and ESG

As I reflect back on my journey in business and finance that has brought me to where I am today, the overriding constant in conducting business is, it is results, outcomes and accountability that have always carried weight. Serving customers well and adding value – making them more efficient, more effective, helping them grow. And, with sustainability, what began as a niche approach, today is flourishing into a strategic imperative, and must have a result-focused orientation.

Yet, within the mainstream of the sustainability movement it is common for organizations and many of their advisors to focus on how to execute process rather than how to deliver results. In part, I believe this since companies are not focused on the outcomes and sustainability’s relevance to the overall goals of the firm – let alone give tangible, financial expression. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find organizations with as many as ten different sustainability focus topics; some have more than 30 (2/3rds of S&P 500 survey)! And, if the senior executives or business owners do not understand, and prioritize, but merely see sustainability as a box ticking exercise, then the result is disconnection from the firm's purpose. This seriously hinders the ability for the firm to reduce conspiring environmental and social cost and risk, and further shackles the firm’s ability to meet its primary objective of increasingly being able to capture, create and deliver more economic value.

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Christopher Gleadle is a coach, educator and advisor in Sustainable Viability. Christopher shows businesses how to capture create and deliver more value and serve customers better using the power of robust sustainable practices with financial analysis, combined with authentic communications to create desired outcomes in line with company primary objectives. He is well recognized internationally as a compelling business coach, educator, advisor, conference speaker and writer on Sustainability. His work is based on over thirty years commercial and sustainability experience. Additionally he is a material contributor to all the primary international carbon, greenhouse gas, life cycle accounting, sustainability and sustainable development reporting and integration standards.