Creating a Sustainable Organization: Approaches for Enhancing Corporate Value Through Sustainability

Organizations that prioritize environmental, health, and safety (EHS) issues are well placed to attract better customers, better talent, and today's growing number of socially responsible investors. But, to gain these benefits, companies must choose the right sustainability strategies, and then manage and measure them well. Now, leading business sustainability consultant Peter Soyka offers a complete and actionable guide to driving greater value through sustainability. Soyka bridges the disparate worlds of the EHS/sustainability professional and the investor/analyst, covering all this and more:



What the evidence says about linkages between sustainability and value
Key stakeholder relationships influencing corporate behavior related to EHS and social equity
Best practices for managing sustainability throughout the business
How sustainability posture and performance can be evaluated by investors, markets, and managers
How to maximize the influence of organizational actors focused on sustainability



This book will be invaluable for all environmental, health, and safety decision-makers and professionals concerned with improving sustainability and value; for executives and strategists seeking competitive advantage; for analysts evaluating investments; and for researchers and MBA candidates currently studying the techniques and potential of corporate sustainability.


Table of Contents



Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Major Themes and Messages in This Book 4

A Few Disclosures and Caveats 9

Endnotes 12

Chapter 2 Background and Context 15

What Is Sustainability, and Why Is It Important to Business? 16

Why Sustainability Is and Will Remain Important to U.S. Corporations 22

Where We’ve Been and What We’ve Learned 29

What ESG/Sustainability Investing Is and Why You May Never Have Heard of It 42

Major Factors, Actors, and Trends 44

ES&G Concerns as Key Requirements and Determinants of Long-Term Business Success 47

Implications for Sustainability Professionals and Others Working on Corporate Sustainability Issues 52

Endnotes 54

Chapter 3 ES&G Issues and How They Affect the Business Enterprise 57

Environmental, Health and Safety, and Social Equity Laws and Regulations 57

An Abridged History 58

Corporate ES&G Obligations 70

Legal Liability 80

Stakeholder Expectations and Nonlegal Requirements 82

Costs and Cost Structure 89

Revenue Impacts 93

Organizational Strength and Capability 96

Endnotes 106

Chapter 4 Stakeholder Interests and Influences and the Social License to Operate 109

The Social License to Operate 111

Major Company Stakeholders 115

Typical Stakeholder Involvement in and Influence on Corporate Behavior 129

Endnotes 147

Chapter 5 Managing ES&G Issues Within the Organization 149

Relationships Among and Between EHS, Social, and Governance Issues 150

Effective ES&G Management Structures and Practices 154

Integrating Sustainability into the Company’s “Organizational DNA” 178

Endnotes 185

Chapter 6 Investors and the Power of Markets 187

Market Theory and Underlying Assumptions 188

Who Investors Are and What They Care About 194

Size and Composition of U.S. Capital Markets 197

Disclosure 201

Institutional Investors and Fiduciary Duty 209

Traditional and Emerging Security Evaluation Methods 214

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) and ES&G Investing 227

ES&G Evaluation and Investing Methods 232

Barriers to ES&G Investing 239

International Situation and Trends 247

Analysts, Rating Agencies, Data Providers, and Other Intermediaries 251

Trends and Potential Game-Changers 254

Summary and Implications 261

Endnotes 263

Chapter 7 The Financial Impact of Effective (or Ineffective) ES&G/Sustainability Management 267

Insights from the Literature 268

Surveys of Corporate and Investor Attitudes and Beliefs 289

Summary and Implications 299

Endnotes 305

Chapter 8 Defining, Measuring, and Reporting ES&G Performance 307

Why Performance Measurement and Reporting Are Crucial 308

ES&G Data, Information, Knowledge, and Insight 308

Major ES&G Data Types and Sources 310

Creating Knowledge and Insight from Corporate and Industry ES&G Information 314

Key Needs and Gaps 321

Sustainability Reporting: Extent of Use 323

Evaluation of Current ES&G Reporting Practices, Limitations, and Trends 327

ES&G Research and Analysis Firms 339

Potential Improvements 351

Endnotes 356

Chapter 9 Making It Happen in Your Organization 359

Creating Sustainable Value for the Enterprise 360

Implications for Sustainability Professionals 369

What It Takes 372

Closing Thoughts 380

Endnotes 380

References 381

Index 393

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