Only 12% of Major Firms have Executive Team for Sustainability

Source: Environmental Leader

Many large corporations are merely paying lip service to their environmental policies, according to a new report from the Sustainable Enterprise Institute.

Among companies in the Russell 1000 Index, only 125 have an executive level committee with responsibility for corporate social responsibility or environmental, health and safety oversight, according to “The Road Not Yet Taken” report (PDF).

Only 54 of the firms, or just above 5 percent, have a “C” level executive responsible for such oversight.

About 60 percent of the firms have company-wide environmental policies, although very few of those firms have formalized documents on the topic. Instead, most firms address CSR or EHS in a CSR report or language on the company Web site, with many of them “not particularly substantive” according to the report.

This table shows the extent to which corporate environmental policies adhere to industry-standard definitions of sustainability.