New research from BT has uncovered a significant mis-match between the efforts being made by businesses to act sustainably, and the perceptions of consumers. Eighty-four per cent of companies* believe it is important to operate in a sustainable manner. However, only three per cent of customers** think businesses are honest about their actions regarding what they are doing to become more environmentally or socially responsible, with 33 per cent believing they exaggerate what they are doing.

When asked to name which industry respondents** thought were most focused on being seen to be environmentally/ socially responsible, the results were as follows***:

Utilities sector (24 per cent) Public sector (19 per cent) Retail (16 per cent) Construction (eight per cent) Transport (five per cent) Media and leisure (five per cent) Financial services (three per cent)

Employees** across this range of industry sectors also displayed similar scepticism to consumers. The research found that nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of employees do not believe that the organisation that they work for is environmentally and socially responsible. One in five believes that their employer only takes action when forced to by external pressures such as suppliers or customers.

Yet contrary to general cynicism, businesses* claim that they do recognise and are tackling the issue of sustainability. The report found that over half (52 per cent) are taking significant steps to improve their impact on the environment and communities and a further third (32 per cent) say they are doing everything they can.

Tim Smart, CEO, BT Global Services UK, said: “The research suggests UK businesses have a lot of work to do to convince customers how seriously they take sustainability. A reputation for poor sustainability practices - whether justified or not - can impact an organisation’s bottom line.

“For those that are genuinely taking sustainability seriously, there are significant benefits to be had - in terms of reputation and marketability. But this requires businesses to be more confident and transparent in their communications. Both employees and consumers need to be told about the good work being done, and businesses need to work hard to deliver evidence and ensure that the story they are telling is credible and convincing.”

The benefits of having a sustainable business are underpinned by the finding that in the last year over a quarter of consumers** (27 per cent) have turned down a product or service from a supplier on the basis that the provider had a poor reputation for being socially or environmentally responsible. Sixty per cent would be prepared to spend extra on a product that was more environmentally friendly.

Neil Hendry, Director of Consulting, at Datamonitor commented: “It’s interesting that whilst businesses are starting to recognise the benefits of adopting more sustainable working practices, they also point to significant challenges. Clearly sustainable business is no longer just a nice to have option, and it is being recognised that in order to satisfy the demands of consumers, organisations have to take this issue seriously.”

Businesses said that the biggest challenge is ensuring senior management set the standard (29 per cent); followed by making the necessary investment in new business processes and equipment (27 per cent); encouraging employees to adopt ways of working (25 per cent); and following through on promises (17 per cent).

Additional findings include:

• Just over half (56 per cent) of businesses* believe that they have a responsibility to consider the sustainability record of suppliers. When doing so, 41 per cent expect suppliers to meet a minimum standard. The public sector felt the greatest responsibility to consider the record of suppliers (71 per cent), followed by utilities (68 per cent), construction (60 per cent), retail (56 per cent), media and leisure (54 per cent), Finance (47 per cent) and transport (44 per cent).

• 90 per cent of businesses* believe IT and communications technology has a role to play in improving sustainability. Yet almost half (41 per cent) have no plans or targets for achieving improvements. The utilities sector is the most likely to have plans and targets for achieving improvements in sustainability associated with IT and communications (66 per cent), followed by transport (58 per cent), retail and media and leisure (52 per cent), finance and the public sectors (51 per cent) and construction (44 per cent).

• Businesses* believe that the main driver for UK companies to increase their levels of IT investment over the next five years will help to make a business more sustainable (33 per cent). The sector most likely to increase IT investment due to sustainability is the public sector (47 per cent), followed by construction (44 per cent), retail (34 per cent), financial services (33 per cent), utilities (28 per cent), transport (24 per cent) and media and leisure 22 per cent.

*Research conducted by Datamonitor
** Research conducted by YouGov
*** Graph image available on request.

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