Nearly 70% of global executives consider climate change important not only for their companies' reputations, but also for core business matters like product development and investment planning, according to 'How companies think about climate change', a survey carried out in December 2007 by the global consulting firm McKinsey.
"Relatively few companies, however, currently appear to be translating the importance they place on climate change into corporate action," says McKinsey, which found that many companies "consider climate change only occasionally at best when managing corporate reputation and brands, developing new products, or even managing environmental issues".
The survey questioned 2,192 global executives, including nearly 600 chief executive officers (CEOs), from the finance, manufacturing, energy and mining sectors.
Concerns about higher operating costs only slightly explain companies' apparent reluctance to translate their concerns into action, as "61% percent of respondents view the issues associated with climate change as having a positive effect on profits if managed well," says McKinsey.
Uncertainties about future regulatory frameworks may help to explain why many firms continue to hedge their bets on which concrete actions to take, with most CEOs expecting strong regulation to take hold in their home countries only within five years. Respondents "broadly agree that the effects of any regulations on profits are more likely to be negative than positive".
The survey also found "no consensus" in many firms about which level of management should be responsible for climate change-related decisions. And 70% of companies do not employ "organisational performance targets related to climate change," indicating that while companies as a whole may profit from climate change, the benefits for indivudual members of firms possibly remains unclear.
