From Incrementalism to Transformation: Reflections on Corporate Sustainability from the UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study

Abstract

The UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study offers a unique perspective on the development of corporate sustainability. Drawing on interviews and survey contributions from more than 2000 chief executives worldwide across nearly a decade of research, this article tracks the development of corporate sustainability, from its roots in philanthropy and corporate social responsibility to its place in the mainstream. Through reflections on the CEO Studies conducted in 2007, 2010 and 2013, the authors trace the changing shape of corporate sustainability strategies from a responsive, issue-based engagement with individual environmental and social issues, through a period of focus on resource efficiency and cost reduction as sustainability became more closely aligned to core business. Observing a recent sense of frustrated ambition expressed by business leaders, Peter Lacy, Rob Hayward and Pranshu Gupta ask whether sustainability is stuck on a plateau of good intentions, or whether in the achievements of COP21 and the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals we can see the beginnings of a new era in which leading companies collaborate with governments, policymakers and civil society to harness sustainability as a transformative force on the pathway to a sustainable economy.