CEOs: Pressure to Make Impact

Recent studies indicate that global consumers feel personally accountable for social and environmental issues – and they look to companies as partners in that endeavor.  Ninety percent of consumers expect companies to do more than make a profit¹ and 39% of CEOs think their businesses should be doing more to measure environmental and social impact.²

Expectations for SRI/ESG involvement are highest among companies with more than $15 billion in revenue.  More than 75% of these large firms have reported that they experienced increased pressure to weigh in on social and environmental issues and that 86% of large companies expect that pressure to increase over the next three years.3

The sharp increase in SRI and ESG mandates across sectors is already being reflected in consumer studies.  A study by Cone Communications¹ suggests that 72% of consumers believe their purchases make a moderate-to-significant positive impact on social or environmental issues.  Part of this may be attributed to an improvement and transparency in how companies talk about and represent their green products – confusion about language and messaging dropped from 71% in 2011 to 65% in 2015.