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A large number of South African companies are failing to implement
environmentally sustainable business strategies, according to a new
survey released on Wednesday.
More than 40% of companies surveyed are not doing so, thereby
jeopardising their own long-term sustainability, the Supply Chain
Intelligence Report 2009 finds.
The study into the supply chain and logistics practices of business
in South Africa was conducted by Terranova Research and based on over
200 interviews with senior company officials.
All major industries in the country were represented, including the
automotive, food and beverage, mining, construction, transportation and
chemical sectors.
A significant 41.3% of the companies did not have, or had no plans
to incorporate, ways to measure their impact on the environment. These
impacts included energy consumption from supply chain operations,
carbon emissions from supply chain operations, water consumption from
manufacturing operations and infrastructure simplification.
Commenting on the results of the study, Graham Terry, head of the
office of the executive president at the SA Institute of Chartered
Accountants, said that since the automotive industry was a global one,
it was likely that international pressure would cause local motor
companies to monitor and report the impact their operations had on the
environment in future.
From the oil, gas and chemicals sample, 44.6% of respondents
reported that the various environmental impacts were not being
measured. Despite the poor result from respondents in this industry,
57.1% of this group claimed that environmental issues were an important
factor in making decisions for their business.
The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector appeared to be only
slightly more in tune with the market's concern about the environment.
According to the study, one-third of the respondents in this sector
reported no future plans to incorporate the listed environmental
impacts in their management systems, compared to 35.8 percent for the
retail sector.
When questioned as to which factors were considered important when
making decisions about new products or markets, 55.6% of FMCG
respondents said environmental issues were critical in decision-making,
compared to a significantly lower 38.1% for the retail sector.
"This could be attributed to many of South Africa's FMCG companies
being a part of multi-national groups, and therefore required to adhere
to international standards," Terry said.
The unwillingness of more than 40% of the South African companies
surveyed to adopt new and important ways of measuring their impact on
the environment was "alarming", he said.
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