Italian companies move towards sustainable business strategy

04/12/2009

FTSE MIB companies rated within the Accountability Rating Italy 2009 are demonstrating a widespread improvement in their recognition and reporting of non-financial issues.
The results of the second Accountability Rating Italy show a definite move towards integrating sustainability issues into business strategy, with average scores for the Strategic Intent, Governance & Management, and Engagement domains rising from 27.4 to 29.1.

The Accountability Rating 2009 has found that whilst most of the 40 companies rated in Italy tend to limit themselves to recognising the main environmental and social risks related to the sector in which they operate, in a few instances companies are now beginning to evolve their products and services to respond to emerging trends in sustainability.
STMicroelectronics NV is the company which tops the Accountability Rating Italy 2009, followed by Eni, Terna, Enel and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

The Accountability Rating also looks closely at how sectors perform. Here it is the Utilities sector which gains the highest score, with an average of 53.6, compared to 39.4 for the Finance sector, and 35.9 for Industrial. Furthermore Utilities is the only sector to register an increase over 2008, primarily due to the strong improvement of Terna.

The systematic engagement of stakeholders is the most critical area in this year’s rating. The research shows that there are still around 25% of companies who do not consider the role of stakeholders, other than shareholders and investors, in value creation.

SCS Consulting has published the Accountability Rating ® Italy 2009, an evaluation of FTSE MIB companies, under licence from Two Tomorrows, the global sustainability consultancy that owns the Accountability Rating methodology. The Accountability Rating ® is a tool that assesses companies’ sustainability performance through publicly available information, covering:
- the integration of responsible strategies into business;
- the existence of management and governance systems for sustainability issues;
- the commitment towards stakeholder engagement and accountability:
- the level of disclosure on social, environmental and economic performance.

SCS Consulting is a leading consultancy working to promote entrepreneurship and innovative strategies for sustained value creation in Italy. It has partnered with companies recognised to be innovative and proactive in sustainability strategies. SCS has experience in stakeholder engagement, CSR training, sustainability reports and codes of ethics.