National Governments Rank Lowest in Sustainability Efforts

In a recent survey of sustainability experts, national governments are rated at the bottom of a list of organizations for their contributions to progress on sustainable development since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ranked at the top of the list.

NGOs scored 57 (out of a possible 100) on performance based on type of organization, while national governments scored a mere 6. The bottom five were national governments, international financial institutions (15), multi-lateral organizations (18), private sector (20) and city/local governments (22). The results are consistent with results from the past two surveys, in 2012 and 2015.

The survey was conducted by GlobeScan, SustainAbility and Sustainable Brands. Of the 907 sustainability experts surveyed, 55 were employed in the government sector, 121 at NGOs, 256 in the private corporate sector, 192 in academics and research, 240 in services and media and 43 unidentified. All had at least three years experience with sustainability issues, and 60% had more than 10 years of experience in the field.

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Perhaps the largest shift in this year’s results comes in expectations for leadership:

[T]he landscape of expectations for future leadership has been shifting. The private sector has been facing growing expectations to play a larger role, while the perceived role of governments in advancing the sustainable development agenda has been diminishing. This year leadership expectations for the two institutions have leveled out, sending a powerful message to business about its perceived role in the post-COP21 [2015 climate change conference in Paris] world. …

Despite mounting expectations for the private sector, experts remain critical of its performance to date. The efforts of all industry sectors, even the ones seen as most progressive, are viewed mostly negatively. We believe the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement will provide much-needed impetus and instruments for all institutions to take their performance to the next level. We hope that in addition to growing expectations for the private sector, next year’s survey will mark the beginning of another trend – one of greater impact and collaboration.

The most highly regarded corporate sustainability leader remains Unilever PLC (NYSE: UL) with a score of 43. Unilever has topped the rankings since 2011. Outdoor gear maker Patagonia ranks second with 17, followed by Interface and IKEA (10) and Tesla Motors Inc. (NYSE: TSLA) at a 6.

The most highly regarded NGOs are World Wildlife Fund (score of 30), Greenpeace (20), Oxfam (11), World Resources Institute (7) and Ceres (6).

The highest scoring national governments are Sweden (27), Germany (25), Denmark (18), Norway (14) and the Netherlands (12). The United States trails the United Kingdom and Costa Rica in eighth place with a score of 7.

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Among industry sectors, the least sustainable are the oil and gas and mining sectors, each of which scored just 5 out of 100. The forest products sector was ranked at the top with a score of 26, followed by biotechnology (25), information and communication technology (22), agriculture food and beverage (18) and consumer goods (17).

The 2016 GlobeScan-SustainAbility report is available here.