ESG Today reports that experts at IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV) looked at surveys from 20.000 consumers that were asked about sustainability and social responsibility. An additional 2.500 executives belonging to 22 industries and 34 countries were surveyed regarding their ESG strategies and the potential benefits that may come from implementing them.

Thus, 76% of business respondents claimed that ESG strategies are a top priority for their companies, while 72% view ESG as a revenue enabler and 45% hope that ESG initiatives will bring more profitability.

Companies that mastered implementing ESG in their core activity often reported great benefits from sustainability-initiatives with regards to customer engagement (70% more often than non-ESG focused companies), risk management (90%) and accessing financing (85%).

This coincides with consumer surveys, with 68% of the respondents saying that environmental responsibility is very or extremely important to them, while 65% of the consumers also value social responsibility.

This also applies to jobs, as well, as 70% of the people surveyed saying they would be more willing to work for a company that is environmentally and socially responsible and 40% of them would even accept a lower paycheck in this case. Additionally, over 50% of the respondents claimed that they paid more money for environmentally or socially responsible products in the past year.

"Consumer commitment to environmental sustainability and social responsibility has intensified with consumers voting with their wallets", said Jonathan Wright, Global Managing Partner Sustainability Services and Global Business Transformation, IBM Consulting.