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- Corporate sustainability remains under-integrated—only 37% of companies deeply embed sustainability into decision-making.
- Finance, IT, and sustainability functions must collaborate to drive value creation, but knowledge gaps and resource constraints remain barriers.
- Advanced Integrators—companies successfully embedding sustainability—report higher sales growth, cost savings, and improved risk management.
The Partnership Driving Change
Salesforce, GlobeScan, ERM, Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), and SustainableIT.org formed the Sustainability Value Creation Partnership to address corporate sustainability challenges and unlock measurable business value.
Why it matters: Despite growing recognition of sustainability as a commercial imperative, major gaps persist between corporate commitments and real-world execution.
The research—based on a survey of 320 business leaders across corporate finance, IT, and sustainability functions—identifies the barriers holding businesses back and presents actionable solutions.
Key Findings: The Sustainability Gap
The study found:
- Sustainability is a priority, but execution lags. While 67% of companies say sustainability is “very important” to success, only 37% report deep integration into operations.
- Finance and IT functions lack sustainability expertise. Fewer than one-third of finance and IT leaders believe their teams have strong sustainability competency.
- Sustainability reporting remains compliance-driven. Forty-two percent of respondents see mandatory reporting as a distraction rather than a value-creation tool.
What Drives Sustainability Value?
Organizations that successfully integrate sustainability—“Advanced Integrators”—realize significantly more value. These companies are:
- 1.5 times more likely to report high-value sustainability actions driving sales growth.
- 2.8 times more likely to have high-quality sustainability data, essential for decision-making.
- More collaborative across finance, IT, and sustainability, improving data sharing and business case development.
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Actionable Solutions: The Sustainability Value Triangle
The report outlines a three-pronged approach to unlocking sustainability value, focusing on Finance, IT, and Sustainability teams:
1. Finance must:
- Build strong business cases for sustainability investments.
- Use data to track sustainability ROI beyond short-term profits.
- Take co-ownership of sustainability strategies.
2. IT must:
- Develop integrated data systems for sustainability reporting and decision-making.
- Leverage AI to improve sustainability performance tracking.
- Provide centralized access to sustainability insights across teams.
3. Sustainability teams must:
- Move beyond brand reputation to demonstrate measurable business impacts.
- Improve cross-functional collaboration with finance and IT.
- Shift reporting focus from compliance to actionable insights.
The Future of Corporate Sustainability
The research underscores that sustainability success requires breaking silos between finance, IT, and sustainability functions. Organizations that embed sustainability into decision-making and data strategies gain a competitive edge.
What’s next: The Sustainability Value Creation Partnership will continue driving business-focused sustainability solutions, ensuring that organizations move beyond commitments to real-world impact.
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