Corporate sustainability must be built on leadership and culture, Cambridge University study finds

Fresh research is now shedding light on these issues to explore why business leaders should prioritise ESG when there is no settled regulation on standards or reporting.

The findings are drawn from a comprehensive new study from the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University, and culture transformation consulting firm, JMJ.

The study asks global businesses to share attitudes, barriers, and enablers of successful corporate sustainability strategies from a leadership and culture standpoint. The findings highlight recurring issues and concerns across businesses as well as areas of difference.

The study advises:

“Not seeing sustainability as an add on, but actually making sure that it’s designed in from the start…it’s then not value engineered out partway down the project, because it’s too expensive.”

Professor Diane Coyle of the Bennett Institute, said:

“There is no doubt leaders in business will need to embed sustainability in their corporate strategies.

“Many will already have realised the importance of sustainability metrics. They need to go beyond that discussion to think about how their strategy, culture, and day-to-day activities will have to change - and about the role of leadership in delivering that.”

The study coincides with the launch of JMJ’s sustainability practice alongside safety and performance transformation solutions. The company has also enriched its industry-leading approach to culture transformation with intelligent data and analytics from the JMJ Transformation Cloud, its digital assessment, learning and coaching platform.

Jeff Williams, CEO at JMJ, said:

“The Bennett Institute’s research underscores the link between an organisation’s culture and the success of its sustainability strategy.

“Those that treat ESG as a box-ticking exercise will fail to take advantage of the strategic opportunity presented by enabling sustainability across all activities, Williams added.

“If an organisation is going to embrace sustainability as a practice, leadership must take the lead in aligning mindsets, structures, skills, and culture,” Williams continued.