Your company has a genuine commitment to sustainability but too few investors know about it. What to do?
A new SustainAbility report, “Closing the Sustainability-Investor Relations Gap” has a diagnosis and remedies.
Perhaps the central gap is the need for improved integrated reporting: “Not enough staff time or other resources [are] dedicated by Sustainability and/or IR departments to integrate sustainability issues and sustainability performance data into investor communications.”
[For the latest on “Integrated Reporting” check out The International Integrated Reporting Council]
Some solutions highlighted in the report:
. Foster IR/Sustainability alliances
. Build on existing tools and channels
. Prioritize a few surveys or decide not to respond
. Identify intersections between sustainability issues and the business model
. Ask investors what language and metrics they use
and, perhaps the most important of all –
. Discuss the value of cultivating long term investors
SustainAbility, an icon in its field, has once again delivered valuable insights for the successful sustainable development/corporate social responsibility business model.