Frustrated with the lack of progress towards sustainability and social initiatives, people want businesses to step up and use technology to succeed where humans have failed, according to a study by Oracle and Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor, Instructor for Harvard Professional Development.
The ‘No Planet B’ study surveyed more than 11,000 consumers and business leaders across 15 countries including India.
“The events of the past two years have put a spotlight on sustainability and social efforts with people worldwide fed up with the lack of progress and calling for businesses to step up,” the report said.
According to the study, 82 per cent of respondents in India are frustrated with the lack of progress by businesses to date. The number is 78 per cent globally. Nearly 89 per cent globally and 93 per cent in India believe it’s not enough for businesses to say they’re prioritising environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria — they want to see action and proof.
Further, 84 per cent globally and 96 per cent in India believe businesses would make more progress towards sustainability and social goals with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). Nearly 83 per cent of respondents in India believe that bots will succeed where humans have failed, compared to 61 per cent globally.
Additionally, 93 per cent of business leaders globally and 98 per cent in India would trust a bot over a human to make sustainability and social decisions. They believe bots are better at collecting different types of data without error (43 per cent globally and 53 per cent in India); making rational, unbiased decisions (42 per cent globally and 56 per cent in India); and predicting future outcomes based on metrics/past performance (41 per cent globally and 50 per cent in India).
This comes as 93 per cent of global respondents believe sustainability and social factors are more important than ever and 80 per cent said the events over the past two years have caused them to change their actions. The number is significantly high in India — at 97 per cent and 95 per cent, respectively.
As 94 per cent of respondents globally believe that society has not made enough progress, 42 per cent of people globally and in India attribute the lack of progress to people being too busy with other priorities, 39 per cent believe it is the result of more emphasis on short-term profits over long-term benefits, compared to 44 per cent in India, while 37 per cent of respondents globally and 43 per cent in India believe people are “too lazy or selfish to help save the planet”, as per the report.
As much as 45 per cent globally and 54 per cent in India believe businesses can make more meaningful changes to sustainability and social factors than individuals or governments alone.
Kaushik Mitra, Senior Director, Cloud ERP, Oracle India, told BusinessLine, “Corporate sustainability mandates are no longer on-paper initiatives that businesses are expected to fulfil as part of their legal responsibility. The public perception of environmental protection has changed considerably, and consumers now expect businesses to act rather than just initiate discussions.”
Challenges for businesses
“Business leaders know sustainability efforts are critical to corporate success and even trust bots over humans alone to drive sustainability and social efforts,” the report said.
Nearly 96 per cent of business leaders surveyed in India and 92 per cent globally believe that sustainability and ESG programmes are critical to the success of their organisations.
Executives globally identified the top three benefits as strengthening the brand (40 per cent globally and 52 per cent in India); increasing productivity (39 per cent globally and 53 per cent in India); and attracting new customers (38 per cent globally and 47 per cent in India).
Almost all business leaders (91 per cent globally and 98 per cent in India) face major challenges when implementing sustainability and ESG initiatives. The biggest challenges include obtaining ESG metrics from partners and third parties (35 per cent globally and 51 per cent in India); a lack of data (33 per cent globally and 39 per cent in India); and time-consuming manual reporting processes (32 per cent globally and 46 per cent in India).
Businesses are also looking to rely more on technology — 96 per cent of business leaders globally and 97 per cent in India admit human bias and emotion often distract from the end goal. Further 89 per cent of business leaders globally and 98 per cent in India believe organisations that use technology to help drive sustainable business practices will be the ones that succeed in the long run..
“Our survey findings from around the world and in India show that firms must increase their sustainability efforts to keep up with the corporate growth model. Businesses are currently managing huge amounts of data across multiple verticals, including essential and non-essential, and this is also applicable to corporate sustainability initiatives,” Mitra said.
“Employing technologies such as artificial intelligence, IoT, big data, blockchain, machine learning, and data analytics could be the real differentiator here for organisations looking to expand sustainability efforts by providing insights, transparency, accuracy, future predictions, and unbiased opinion,” Mitra added.
He said that Oracle is assisting organisations such as Unilever, Apollo Tyres, Benzler and Safexpress, among others, in outlining and managing their sustainability agenda through innovative technologies.
Role of people
According to business leaders, people are still essential to the success of sustainability and social initiatives. Executives believe that people are better at implementing changes based on feedback from stakeholders (globally 48 per cent and 60 per cent in India); educating others on the information needed to make decisions (globally 46 per cent and 60 per cent in India); and making context-informed strategic decisions (globally 42 per cent and 47 per cent in India).
“Businesses need to prioritise sustainability and social issues and rethink how they use technology to make an impact or risk facing major consequences,” the report added.
Around 94 per cent of people globally and 98 per cent in India want to make progress on sustainability and social factors to establish healthier ways of living (50 per cent globally and 55 per cent in India); save the planet for future generations (49 per cent globally and 54 per cent in India); and help create more equality around the world (46 per cent globally and 54 per cent in India).
Globally 70 per cent and 85 per cent in India would be willing to cancel their relationship with a brand that does not take sustainability and social initiatives seriously, and globally 69 per cent and 84 per cent in India would even leave their current company to work for a brand that places a greater focus on these efforts.
If organisations can clearly demonstrate the progress they are making on environmental and social issues, people would be more willing to pay a premium for their products and services (87 per cent globally and 97 per cent in India); invest in them (83 per cent globally and 93 per cent in India); and work for them (83 per cent and 94 per cent in India).
Business leaders have also understood the importance and urgency, with 94 per cent globally and 96 per cent in India believing that sustainability and societal metrics should be used to inform traditional business metrics, and 91 per cent globally and 96 per cent in India want to increase their investment in sustainability.
The research findings are based on a survey conducted by Savanta, Inc between February 25 and March 14, 2022, with 11,005 global respondents from 15 countries (the US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, China, India, Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Mexico); 1,000 respondents from India were included in the study.
Published on
April 27, 2022
