Deloitte's "CFO Signals" report for Q4 2019 contains an abundance of information about the risks, concerns, opportunities, expectations and projections that are top of mind for North American CFOs based on a November 2019 "pulse survey" among >$1B public (73%) and private (27%) companies.
Given the increasing media focus, these climate change-related results are particularly noteworthy:
- More than 70% of CFOs (over 66% across all industries other than Tech) say they face moderate or higher pressure from at least one stakeholder group to act on climate change. By industry, Tech CFOs reported the least pressure, with just 50% saying they face moderate or higher pressure from at least one stakeholder group, whereas Energy/Resources and Retail/Wholesale are highest at 80% and 75%, respectively.
- On average, CFOs report 2.5 stakeholder groups who exert pressure at least to a moderate extent. Energy/Resources is highest (about half reported at least moderate pressure from employees, customers, boards/management, and society), followed by Financial Services (with pressure from the same groups). Tech is lowest, but about half of Tech CFOs report moderate pressure from employees and boards/management.
- Overall, the most common sources of higher pressure are employees, customers, boards, and investors (in that order).
The data is compared to a like pool of European respondents, who generally report higher levels of pressure from all groups - particularly board members/management and civil society (e.g., activists, media).
See also the associated data on company actions in response to climate change and establishment of greenhouse gas reduction targets on pages 20 - 21, and the Executive Summary.
See our prior reports: "ESG Activism: Mitigate Your Risks" and "ESG Activism Trends," and additional information & resources on our Risk Management & Oversight, Institutional Investors, and Sustainability/ESG pages. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!