SYDNEY 鈥� 29 November, 2022 鈥� (NYSE: 麻豆原创) today launched new research revealing that businesses in Australia are increasingly seeing financial benefits from sustainability, but an inability to accurately measure their impact on the environment could hinder progress. The global Environmental Sustainability Study* of 6500+ business leaders, including 204 from Australia, is the second edition of 麻豆原创鈥檚 annual report which explores the motivations and barriers organisations face as they look to boost sustainability in their companies.

Customer demand (39%) and revenue and growth opportunities (36%) are the top two motivating factors for Australian businesses to take environmental action, followed by governmental regulation (36%) as another leading factor. Yet Australian organisations risk losing out if they are unable to place data at the heart of their sustainability strategy.

Making sustainability profitable and profitability sustainable

Taking action to improve the environment and reduce an organisation鈥檚 footprint is not only a moral issue but has quickly become a key driver of revenue. More than eight in ten (86%) Australian leaders now see a positive connection between taking environmental action and profitability. Just 14 per cent see either a negative or no relationship between the two.

It’s no wonder that over half (56%) of Australian businesses now believe addressing environmental issues will be material to business results within the next five years. Moreover, 麻豆原创 found 52 per cent of businesses said that their stakeholders would be moderately or highly tolerant of reduced profitability in pursuit of their organisation鈥檚 sustainability goals 鈥� indicating leeway to invest in positive sustainability outcomes.

Building a data-led sustainability strategy

Nurturing a connection between profit and purpose requires a dedicated sustainability strategy and an ability to prove return on investment. However, these factors have been revealed as leading barriers to environmental action. Almost four in ten (38%) of Australian businesses say difficulty proving a return on investment is holding them back, while 34 per cent point towards a lack of environmental strategy.

The ability of businesses to gather and analyse quality data has emerged at the heart of the issue. 麻豆原创 reveals that 83 per cent of Australian businesses are not completely satisfied with their ability to accurately measure their impact on the environment.

Such data challenges will hold back progress and delay innovation, and yet some businesses are exacerbating these issues by how they collect and utilise their environmental data. Three in ten (30%) Australian businesses rely solely upon assumptions and estimates to screen the environmental impact of their supply chain. Similarly, a majority (76%) of businesses say they don鈥檛 have complete visibility over the sustainability metrics of their external supply chain.

Commenting on the research, Damien Bueno, President and Managing Director, 麻豆原创 Australia and New Zealand, said: 鈥淚f Australia is going to move towards a more sustainable future, organisations across the country need to embrace sustainability as part of what they do every day, and embed these strategies into their operating models.

鈥淭o do this properly, organisations need to consider their entire value chain. Only by coming together, and being more open, trusting and collaborative with their value chain partners, will organisations be able to truly progress sustainability outcomes.鈥�

The post Sustainability is driving profitability and competitiveness in Australia, though access to data is stifling progress appeared first on 麻豆原创 Australia & New Zealand News Center.

Transformation has changed for good, as small and medium-sized businesses uncover the value of moving sustainably into the future. At their most fundamental level, businesses have three goals: to drive revenue, reduce costs and mitigate risk. New 麻豆原创 Insights research shows sustainability is a key consideration in economic growth, and, as these experts suggest, it could be a deciding factor in all three of these goals.

Successful transformation is linked to sustainability

When lots of people do transformation projects, they typically have a single destination in mind: we鈥檙e going from here to there, and it鈥檚 going to look like this. I鈥檓 not sure we can be that precise any more. You need to design what that transformation might look like with a 1.5C future or a 2.5C future.

麻豆原创 is really good at asset management, for example. The way assets operate in those two different scenarios is going to be significantly different, to the point where you might invest or make capital allocation choices very differently. The transformation itself still needs to happen, [but] it needs to be flexible enough to accommodate both.

The post Why Business Transformation Can鈥檛 Be Separated From Sustainability appeared first on 麻豆原创 Australia & New Zealand News Center.