According to the CEO Outlook 2020 survey conducted by KPMG, 71 percent of CEOs in the Nordic countries state that they will consolidate focus on issues related to environmental, social and corporate governance (from English acronym, ESG) as a result of the pandemic.
These are the main conclusions of the survey that gives a good idea of the main concerns, priorities and expectations of the CEOs of the Nordic countries before and after the covid-19 crisis.
When it came to climate risk management, 65 percent pointed out that this item will play an important role in maintaining the agendas for the next five years. In addition, for 79 percent of respondents, responding to the pandemic caused their focus to shift to ESG issues as a way to strengthen their approach to the issue of sustainability.
According to the leading managing partner of the Norway, Denmark and Sweden practice at KPMG in Brazil, Leandro Pereira, the research shows that the pandemic has placed equality, diversity and basic human rights within the social part of the ESG agenda and has also increased awareness of CEOs on the need to monitor the business implications of climate change, biodiversity and other long-term issues related to the environment.
Leandro Pereira
Photo courtesy of KPMG
“Companies with business strategies that consider opportunities and risks related to the ESG theme have already seen positive impacts on competitiveness not only in the goods and services market, but also in the capital markets. This is not only a reality for Nordic companies, but it has also been widely debated in Brazil after the challenges imposed by Covid-19”, says Pereira.
About the CEO Outlook 2020 survey:
CEO Outlook is a global survey by KPMG. The 2020 edition was held in several countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, India, Japan, Canada, France, China, Australia, Italy, Spain and Brazil. Between January and February 2020, before the world started to feel the real impact of the crisis caused by the pandemic, KPMG interviewed 1,300 CEOs from the main economies of the world, 50 Brazilian CEOs and 270 CEOs from South America to understand the main concerns, priorities, challenges and expectations regarding the economy and business. Due to the pandemic, the research won a chapter dedicated to the impact of isolation caused by covid-19 on business. Between July and August, more than 315 global CEOs, 15 Brazilians and 80 South Americans were interviewed to understand how these executives’ views changed during the crisis.
Based on this universe, CEO Outlook 2020 draws a faithful portrait of what CEOs working on a global, regional and local scale think about business development, the challenges that leaders face and their strategies for planning the success of their organizations in the coming years. All this with an updated look and directed to the questions that involve the changes generated by the global crisis of the covid-19.
The link to access the survey is as follows:
Here you can access KPMG´s booklet on ESG in times of crisis (In Portuguese).
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