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Focus: Sustainability: CFOs are coming to the table

Sustainability and the CFO survey findings

CFOs are engaging with sustainability. That's the key finding of the 2012 Sustainability and the CFO survey, undertaken on behalf of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms by independent analyst firm Verdantix.

The 250 CFOs surveyed—representing companies with greater than US$1 billion in revenue each, across 14 countries on five continents—painted a clear picture of a CFO function whose attitude toward sustainability is in transition. For much of this group, sustainability is integral to how their businesses run. This paper offers ten key findings on how CFOs are engaging with sustainability.

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Sustainability: CFOs are coming to the table
Ten key findings on how CFOs are engaging with sustainability.

Focus on the UK
In the UK, sustainable business continues to gather momentum.

Focus on the U.S.
As total spend on sustainable business in the U.S. has risen, CFO attention to sustainability has increased accordingly.

Focus on Ireland
A majority of CFOs surveyed at Irish companies believe that it is important for sustainability programmes to be part of the CFO agenda and more than 90 percent believe there is a direct link between sustainability programmes and business performance.

Focus on reporting
As CFOs increasingly tackle the sustainability agenda, the area of reporting is naturally being transformed.

Focus on cleantech
As sustainability concerns move squarely onto the CFO agenda, cleantech issues have come front and center.

Focus on food and beverage sector
Food and beverage CFOs identify energy and resource management and commodity prices as key challenges.

Focus on personal and household sector
Personal and household companies are also responding to the global sustainability imperative.

Focus on retail sector
Nearly two-thirds of retail CFOs indicated that they are significantly involved in driving organizational execution of sustainability strategy.

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