Opportunities Exist to Make an Impact on the Gulf Cooperation Council’s Social and Environmental Challenges
November 01 2016 - 2:00AM
Business Wire
New Oliver Wyman Report Addresses How Region
is Ripe for Real, Lasting Change and Need for Non Profit and
Private Sector to Drive New Initiatives
Oliver Wyman’s new report on social impact initiatives in the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has revealed that the region’s
private and non-profit sectors remain far from where they need to
be in order to be effective partners to governments in driving
sustainability.
Oliver Wyman surveyed more than 60 business leaders in the
region to study the role that private and non-profit sectors across
the GCC are playing when it comes to social and environmental
sustainability in the region.
The research looked to explore the role governments,
international organizations and support networks can play in
supporting and driving the growth of this critical new area of
focus in the GCC.
The report shows 86 percent of those surveyed strongly agree
that immediate action is required to tackle the region’s
challenges, particularly when it comes to youth unemployment, CO2
emissions and water depletion.
“The findings presented in the report suggest that the region is
ripe for real, lasting change,” said Greg Rung, an Oliver Wyman
Partner in the Middle East and the author of the report.
“Awareness about these issues has been growing over the past
decade, and the current situation has created a growing sense of
urgency and crisis. The journey to effective social and
environmental impact is long and too many organizations have yet to
take meaningful steps in the right direction.”
Not enough being done
Whilst still evolving in the region, the survey showed that a
large majority (68 percent) of organizations feel sustainability is
a top priority for their senior leadership. Less than a third of
survey respondents (30 percent) believe corporations, foundations
and NGOs are currently doing enough to address the issues, and less
than half (41 percent) have reassessed the focus and scale of their
sustainability programmes in the past two years.
Less than a third (27 percent) have increased their dedicated
budgets for sustainability, and as a result, only 40 percent feel
that current budgets are sufficient.
“The overwhelming consensus regarding the urgency of the
region’s social and environmental challenges is concerning, but it
also signals an opportunity for meaningful change,” said Mr.
Rung.
Crisis and opportunity
To address the issues facing the GCC, the report outlines how
‘regional pioneers’ will be crucial, and how private sector leaders
need to show that sustainability can contribute to growth and add a
competitive advantage.
Integrating sustainability into an organization’s DNA is also a
multi-year process that requires significant change management, the
report says, adding that sustainability must be directly linked to
the business model for long-term growth and profitability.
Training and empowering staff across the organization and
incentivizing ‘sustainability managers’ also needs to be part of an
organization’s strategy, and measurement should also be a top
priority, leveraging international reporting guidelines and
external support actors.
The report also provides examples of organizations which are
showing the way as regional pioneers.
Building partnerships
Collaboration between governments and the private and non-profit
sectors also needs to improve, according to the report.
“Despite the launch of important governmental reform initiatives
in the past two years, it has become increasingly apparent that
governments cannot be expected to tackle the region’s social and
environmental challenges alone,” said Mr. Rung.
The report titled ‘The Social Impact Imperative – The role of
private and non- profit sectors in the GCC,’ can be viewed
here.
-End –
Notes to Editors
Using a combination of interviews and online surveys, the
research sought to gather insights directly from those active in
corporate, foundation or NGO social and environmental initiatives
across the GCC. The goal was to understand the most recent trends
in the private and non-profit sectors’ responses to the region’s
pressing challenges, and to discover region-specific lessons by
examining organizations’ journeys towards sustainability and rising
levels of social and environmental impact.
Oliver Wyman
With offices in 50+ cities across 26 countries, Oliver Wyman is
a global leader in management consulting that combines deep
industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy,
operations, risk management, and organization transformation.
Oliver Wyman is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan
Companies [NYSE: MMC]. Follow Oliver Wyman on Twitter
@OliverWyman
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Media Contact:For Oliver Wyman:Halima Islam, +971 55 985
3382halima.islam@fourcommunications.com
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