Priorities
‘CLEAR CONNECTION’ REsIDENTIAL PREsENCE AT
BETwEEN GREEN GREEN BUsINEss fORUM
PERfORMANCE AND PROfIT
Social entrepreneurs and policy makers
Business leaders believe environmental
flock to Oxford for major gathering.
investment pays.
M
ore than half of business managers now accept the
commercial case for green investments and initiatives,
according to a new global survey of more than 1,200
senior executives from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The Doing Good: Business and Sustainability Challenge survey,
sponsored by ExxonMobil, Orange and PriceWaterhouseCoopers,
among others, found that 57 per cent of respondents believed the
benefits of investing in green initiatives outweighed the cost, while a
majority expected green investments to turn a profit.
The findings suggest that growing numbers of business leaders now
accept the conclusions of recent reports suggesting a correlation
between environmental and financial performance.
Quoted in the report, Ed Potter, director of global workplace rights at Coca-
Cola, said that while no study had established a connection “in accounting
F
ormer US President Jimmy Carter and presidential candidate-
turned-green campaigner Al Gore were at the fifth Skoll World
Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, which took place at Oxford
terms” between a firm’s green credentials and financial performance there
University’s Saïd Business School recently.
is now a widespread belief that “there is a clear connection”.
The Forum, organised by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
The Economist’s study further adds to the growing body of evidence
at the School, in collaboration with the Skoll Foundation, focused on
supporting a link between sustainability practices and financial and
the theme of “culture, context and social change” and was attended by
share price performance.
around 700 social entrepreneurs, academics, financiers, politicians, policy
makers and others from more than 40 countries around the world.
It found that those “share price climbers” which boast growth in excess
of 50 per cent over the past three years, put emphasis on environmental
At the opening plenary session, Jeff Skoll, founder and chairman
initiatives at board level and nearly 40 per cent had sought to reduce
of the Skoll Foundation and Participant Productions, introduced the
green house gases.
Forum by reviewing how far social entrepreneurship has come in the
last five years. “Social entrepreneurs today have more headlines, more
In contrast, “share price losers” that have seen their share price decline
awards, more advocates and more allies than ever,” he commented.
by more than 10 per cent in the past three years, were two and half
“We have arrived.”
times more times likely to have nobody in charge of sustainability than
those firms with climbing share prices.
Professor Lord Giddens, sociologist and former director of the London
School of Economics and Political Science, addressed the Forum on
Bjorn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for
the subject of the politics of climate change. Phil Hope MP, Minister for
Sustainable Development, said that with intangible assets such as
the Third Sector in the UK, then spoke about social entrepreneurship
brand and reputation increasingly influential factors in a firm’s share
from the perspective of a Labour politician, focusing on the “new
price performance the business case for sustainable investments
giants” that threaten our communities - giants such as inequality,
and policies was strengthening.
climate change and social epidemics.
A panel comprising Pat Mitchell, President and CEO of the Paley Center
Business leaders are open to more regulation for Media, Nafis Sadik MD, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the
on social and environmental issues.
Pacific, Karen Tse, Founder and CEO of International Bridges to Justice,
and Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, discussed the challenges
involved in achieving social change across different cultures.
Communication, then the environment, are
top corporate priorities on sustainability.
Other highlights of the Forum included the ceremony for the presentation
of the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship, incorporating an
The supply chain is the weakest link.
address by Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States. Eleven
organisations were given Skoll Awards.
sustainability reporting needs more work.
Al Gore, former vice president of the United States and winner of the
Nobel Peace Prize, addressed the closing plenary session, among
sustainability does pay.
other speakers.
ecoexecutive | 8
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