Board directors ‘lack specific sustainability knowledge’
The latest Sustainability Board Report highlights a lack of sustainability knowledge among directors, with experts warning of potential litigation risk.
Image: ImageFlow/Shutterstock
The climate crisis means companies must become sustainable, but are their boardrooms up to the job? New research suggests many are not.
The Sustainability Board Report (SBR), a think tank, has looked at the 100 largest companies in the Fortune 2000 and found an increase in the number of board sustainability committees and a small rise in the number of directors with “sustainability credentials”.
Looking at the 275 directors on sustainability committees across the 100 companies, SBR found that just 48 have “explicit” sustainability expertise. SBR points out that’s just 17% and an increase of only two percentage points on 2019.
For thoughtful journalism, expert insights on corporate governance and an extensive library of reports, guides and tools to help boards and directors navigate the complexities of their roles, subscribe to Board Agenda
Related Stories
-
It’s time for sustainability to be the big issue in the boardroom
While progress is being made, the primary measure of performance for most boards and investors largely remains short-term earnings.
-
Boards under media influence
Media coverage has a broad agenda-setting effect which should never be underestimated. Directors need to carefully manage their reactions to what they read.
-
Belgian business groups publish guide on non-financial reporting law
A group of Belgian stakeholders have put together guidelines to help business leaders implement a law introduced last year on non-financial reporting.
