Companies in the Northern region are increasingly aware that sustainability is a matter of management and competitiveness, but they continue to face difficulties in turning that concern into strategy and goals, according to a study released today.
The conclusions of the work, promoted by the Portuguese Business Association (AEP) within the framework of the project “New Path to the North – Towards Sustainability,” indicate that 91% of the surveyed companies consider sustainability a concern, and 80% understand that ESG management (from the English ‘Environmental, Social and Governance’, relating to environmental, social and corporate governance indicators) is a leadership responsibility.
However, only 15% say they have defined sustainability objectives for the short, medium and long term, “evidencing a significant gap between awareness of the importance of the topic and its formal integration into management.”
In this context, AEP will promote, between October 15 and November 24, capacity-building actions aimed at micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the Northern region to strengthen their ability to respond to the new market, supply chain and financing demands, and to treat ESG not merely as a matter of compliance, but as a factor of competitiveness, efficiency and access to new business opportunities.
The project, called “Towards Practice,” is co-financed by the European Union through the Northern Region 2030 Programme, with the training sessions—to be held in the eight sub-regions of the North—being free of charge.
The study also shows that, the smaller the size of the companies, the greater the difficulties perceived in integrating ESG strategies.
“Micro-enterprises account for more than 94% of the business fabric in all sub-regions of the North, but they are also the ones facing the greatest difficulties in formalizing policies, defining responsibilities, monitoring indicators and reporting ESG information,” the study concludes.
The work shows, however, that some progress has already been made, notably in energy efficiency, waste management, health and safety at work, equality and training.
“The challenge now is to transform these practices, often developed autonomously or informally, into management systems capable of measuring results, setting objectives and demonstrating performance to customers, suppliers, financiers and other partners,” says AEP.
Integration of ESG into business relationships is also currently limited, with about one third of the companies reporting never requesting ESG information from their suppliers and about 30% never using ESG criteria in supplier selection.
On the client side, 28% of companies say they never receive requests for information about sustainability, while in their dealings with banks 36% report never discussing ESG topics and 54% have never been questioned about this type of information.
