A recent poll of 1,230 CEOs across 113 countries by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture showed that many business leaders are looking for ways to mitigate the effects of climate change. Nearly 50% of respondents reported that extreme weather events are a top risk to their supply chains, and 21% cited “loss of biodiversity and related ecosystem services” as a business threat. Most respondents said their company was already acting to mitigate these risks. Almost half (49%) are participating in cross-sector initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases, while more than 60% are geographically diversifying their workforce and operations or have started to diversify their material inputs for products and operations.
Their products and workforces are changing too—81% of CEOs are developing new sustainable products and services and 47% are investing in green jobs. However, most respondents cited the high cost of critical technology (54%), the difficulty in understanding which technology to use (53%), and the difficulty of measuring ESG data (63%) as barriers to their efforts.