CECP Global Exchange Report Finds Three Quarters of Surveyed Global Companies to Adopt ESG Throughout Businesses by 2025

NEW YORK, January 24, 2022 /3BL Media/ - Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose© (CECP), in collaboration with the CECP Global Exchange, released the Global Impact at Scale: 2021 Edition report. The study highlights international trends in corporate purpose strategies such as tracking progress on environmental, social, governance (ESG) factors; progress on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); response to COVID-19; employee engagement; and more. Notably, the research reflects a recent acceleration towards many departments across one company incorporating ESG into their business purpose, strategies, reporting, and daily tasks.

Key findings of the report include:

• Three quarters (75%) of companies predicted full integration of ESG across every department within five years; and 74% of companies consider the investors’ perspective when reporting on social aspects of ESG data in their disclosures.
• 70% of companies reported an increase in the resources allocated to DEI.
• Just over half (51%) of companies reported their COVID-19 response led to a new specific community intervention—and 65% of those new interventions were focused on healthcare.
• 71% of companies reported an increase in the resources allocated to the future of work; and most companies (58%) report an increase in resources allocated to healthy lifestyles.
• CECP analysis of Bloomberg data of the top 3,000 global companies by revenue showed that median total community spend was up 77% from US$2.8 million in 2019 to US$4.95 million in 2020. Companies in the Health Care sector spent more than 3x what they spent in 2019, largely driven by COVID-19 pandemic response, with a median spend of US$9.59 million.

Nearly 200 companies in 18 countries and regions with a median revenue of US$5.7 billion contributed insights to the global report. Based on 2020 data, the study suggests the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the global reckoning with racial injustice made it a landmark year for external pressures on a company’s performance. For example, in anticipation of increased demand for care for the most vulnerable populations in the city of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest steel producer, Gerdau, helped provide the resources needed to build an expansion to the public Hospital Municipal M’Boi Mirim.

“Although the challenges of the last year had a profound effect on many companies’ operations, Global Impact at Scale underscores the incredible adaptability of the private sector,” said Beth Gallagher, Director Corporate Insights, CECP. “The report shows businesses have weathered the most unexpected upheaval, and responded to new trials effectively, strategically, and with deeper purpose.”

The CECP Global Exchange (GX) partners are in 18 countries and regions and serve companies by building a body of knowledge on locally relevant corporate citizenship best practices through information sharing and collaborative research. The GX acts as a catalyst to enhance and advance corporate social investment strategies. Other GX partners include: Business in the Community in the U.K., Cemefi in Mexico, Comunitas in Brazil, The Conference Board of Canada in Canada, CSRone in Chinese Taipei, CSR Turkey in Turkey, Dynamo Academy in Italy, Fundación SERES in Spain, Gestión Social in Chile, Kansai Economic Federationin Japan, Korea Productivity Center in the Republic of Korea, Maala in Israel, Russian Donors Forum in the Russian Federation, Samhita in India, SynTao in Mainland China and Hong Kong, Trialogue in South Africa, and Wider Sense in Germany.

CECP’s report, Giving in Numbers: 2021 Edition, the unrivaled leader in benchmarking on corporate social investments in partnership with companies, features a section on international giving, with 93% of the respondents in that survey headquartered in the United States. In 2020, two-thirds of companies reported making cash and non-cash community investments to international end-recipients. The Giving in Numbers survey opened January 14, 2022 and is open to global companies US$2 billion plus in revenue.

About Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP)

CECP is a CEO-led coalition that believes that a company’s social strategy — how it engages with key stakeholders including employees, communities, investors, and customers —determines company success. Founded in 1999 by actor and philanthropist Paul Newman and other business leaders to create a better world through business, CECP has grown to a movement of more than 200 of the world’s largest companies that represent $11.2 trillion in revenues, $23 billion in societal investment, 14 million employees, and $21 trillion in assets under management. CECP helps companies transform their social strategy by providing customized connections and networking, counsel and support, benchmarking and trends, and awareness building and recognition.

For more information, visit http://cecp.co.