Lessons from the Leaders Series

The Sustainable Organization Overview Video Transcript

Bruno Berthon, Global Managing Director

Accenture Strategy & Sustainability

Welcome to Accenture’s Lessons from Leaders series which attempts to define what is the sustainable organization.

From our extensive client work, our ongoing research into the field, and our partnerships with a diverse range of organizations such as the United Nations Global Compact and World Business Council for Sustainable Development, we know that there has never been a better time for organizations to capitalize on the opportunities that can be gained through sustainability.

And while there have been many setbacks to the regulatory progress due to economic volatility, we’re seeing the world’s best-run companies proactively transforming their businesses around the sustainability imperative.

Why? The reasons are as diverse as sustainability itself, but all point to long term competitive differentiation as well as the bottom line. Many companies are achieving significant cost savings through energy, water and waste efficiency efforts. One global chemical company has already saved well over $9bn from such a focused effort.

Equally License to operate. In the energy and extractive sector, leading companies are rethinking their supply chains around sustainability in order to secure the right to operate in fragile environments particularly emerging markets.

And finally reputation and brand value. Many businesses are making sustainability an intrinsic part of their brand and business strategy, to reshape their position in the market and compete for both talent and consumer/ citizen preference.

There are many other benefits too, but what this series drills down into is what it means to run a sustainable organization in today’s business environment. And it does so specifically through the lens of each major executive board level role in turn.

The series presents insights and lessons from leading executives – CEOs, CFOs, Chief Strategy Officers, Chief Supply Chain Officers, CIOs, Chief Procurement Officers, and others – on the importance of sustainability to the evolution of their role and practical pragmatic approaches to capitalizing on the opportunities presented by sustainability.

For each role in turn, the series highlights what leading executives are now doing to incorporate sustainability into how they think, manage and lead.

But while these efforts are impressive, they are not enough. While many leading companies have taken significant steps towards becoming more sustainable, a step change in the scale and ambition of such efforts is still clearly needed.

Our aim and hope is that this series can help inspire and motivate leaders to make this change.

Thank you.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 261,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012.

About Accenture Sustainability Services

Accenture Sustainability Services helps organizations achieve substantial improvement in performance and value for their stakeholders. We help clients leverage their assets and capabilities to drive innovation and profitable growth while striving for a positive economic, environmental and social impact. We work with clients across industries and geographies to integrate sustainability approaches into their business strategies, operating models and critical processes.

Our holistic approach encompasses strategy, design and execution to increase revenue, reduce cost, manage risk and enhance brand, reputation and intangible assets. We also help clients develop deep insights on sustainability issues based on our on-going investments in research, including recent studies on consumer expectations and global executive opinion on corporate sustainability and climate change.

Accenture is committed to helping forward-thinking organizations position sustainability as a key lever to long-term success. To find out more about how Accenture can help you meet your sustainability imperatives and chart a course toward high performance, visit http://www.accenture.com/sustainability. Please also join our on-going conversation about sustainability, business and policy by following us on Twitter @ActSustainably and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/accenturesustainabilityservices.

Copyright © 2013 Accenture All rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.