A new report titled, How can we advance climate action on boards?, from the non-profit Climate Governance Initiative, produced in collaboration with Kantar, presents the findings from a recent Global Impact Study. The report includes 29 one-to-one interviews and responses from 440 chairs and non-executive and independent directors across approximately 20 countries.
It notes that directors have a singularly influential role in how businesses respond to the climate challenge. As such, understanding their view on how the issue is being progressed in boardrooms around the world is crucial to learning how best to support them to accelerate the pace of change, it said.
Interestingly, the report found that 90 per cent of board directors believe it is the board’s responsibility to influence organisations’ direction on climate action, and 93 per cent believe the board is able to do so.
Further, 84 per cent are either somewhat or highly engaged with climate, and 86 per cent see climate change as a business opportunity.
However, the report also found that this isn’t necessarily translating into action. Just 40 per cent of boards are currently doing some kind of climate-related reporting and 56 per cent of board directors have no plans to publish a transition plan.
According to the report, the biggest barrier to action for board directors is a lack of prioritisation, driven by a focus on short-term thinking, followed by sustainability knowledge gaps.
Read the full report here.