by Thomas Miner

A new survey from Ernst & Young shows that up to 70 percent of leading companies will be increasing investments in climate change initiatives over the next 2 years, reporting on their performance and leaning on their supply chains to reduce carbon emissions, rather than wait for pending regulation.

The report, “Action Amid Uncertainty: The Business Response to Climate Change,” surveyed 300 executives from 16 countries and 18 industries on how their businesses are responding to climate change risk. Seventy percent of respondents said that they would be working deliver cost savings and generate revenue through their climate change initiatives over the next two years, with 50 percent of these companies planning to spend between .5 percent and 5 percent of their annual revenues on climate related activities.

All businesses included in the survey have annual revenues of $1 billion or more.

While 94 percent of respondents see national policies as important in shaping their climate change strategies, the report names five factors which are driving these initiatives that are more important than regulation: energy reduction, changing consumer demands, the development of new products or services, competitive threats, and stakeholder expectations.

Other key findings from the survey include:

- In the developing economies of China and India, executives rank product development as the top challenge to achieving their goals, 97 percent and 72 percent respectively. Respondents in Australia, Canada, US, Japan, Germany and France indicate that regulatory and compliance issues present primary challenges in the next two years.

- Approximately 66 percent of respondents are discussing climate change programs with their suppliers and 36 percent of respondents are already working directly with these stakeholders to decrease the carbon in their supply chains.

- Transparent reporting is gaining momentum, as 64 percent of respondents report greenhouse gas data in an annual corporate social responsibility or sustainability report. Of the organizations that say they report, 62 percent verify their data through an independent third party.

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Life Media