Accenture helps companies unlock the business and environmental value of organizational sustainability by strengthening their sustainability DNA. Read more.

1. From insights to action, the path to extraordinary value starts here.
Shaping the
Sustainable
Organization
How responsible leaders create
lasting value and equitable impact
for all stakeholders
In collaboration with the
World Economic Forum

2. Operating sustainably is not an option.
It’s a business imperative.
Leaders are under intense pressure to build sustainable organizations that deliver
financial value and societal and equitable impact for all stakeholders.
The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the challenge.
Sources: Accenture Future of Work Study; Accenture Covid-19 Consumer Pulse Study; Principles for Responsible Investment.
Employees Consumers Investors
65% 66% 28%
believe organizations
should be responsible for
leaving their people "net
better off" through work
plan to make more sustainable
or ethical purchases over the
next six months
increase in investor signatories
in 2020 to the UN’s Principles
for Responsible Investment
Stakeholders
are more
demanding:

3. Executives are keen to deliver for all stakeholders
The pandemic increased the onus on
leadership teams to reimagine how they assess
their performance and to develop deeper, two-
way relationships with stakeholders.
Sustainable leaders are taking action.
Source: Accenture Global CXO Study; October 2020
73%
67% 30%
have developed an action plan for adopting and scaling
sustainable practices:
Percentage of executives who...
across the entire organization for some business units
identify becoming a truly sustainable
and responsible business as a top priority:

4. Change starts with the Five Elements
of Responsible Leadership
In our previous report, Seeking New Leadership, we identified five leadership qualities that executives need to guide
their companies in the decade ahead. However, these five elements are only the start.
Emotion
& Intuition
Instinct
Humility
Compassion
Intellect
& Insight
Data-to-knowledge
Critical thinking
Continuous learning
Mission
& Purpose
Integrity
System thinking
Sensemaking
Stakeholder
Inclusion
Trust
Accountability
Impact
Technology
& Innovation
Tech vision
Responsive innovation
Creativity

5. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 5
A business and operating model
transformation is necessary to become a
truly sustainable organization.
But the pre-requisite is to embed
stakeholder-centricity into day-to-day
decision-making.

6. Three barriers
stand in the
way of creating
stakeholder
value
Organizations fail to fully
understand stakeholders’
needs and desires
Leadership teams struggle
to embed stakeholders’
needs into decision-
making processes
Leaders are unable to
cultivate wider ownership
for operating sustainably
01.
Relationships
02.
Insight
03.
Shared ownership

7. Sustainability
DNA addresses
these barriers by
driving three key
behavioral
changes
Strong, symbiotic
relationships with
stakeholders that build
understanding of what
constitutes value across
the ecosystem
Specific decision-
making mechanisms
that transform
stakeholder needs and
desires into action
Stakeholder value
creation becomes an
expectation across the
organization
01.
Human
Connections 02.
Collective
Intelligence
03.
Accountability
at All Levels

8. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 8
Decoding
Sustainability DNA “Leadership teams should build
organizations that delegitimize irresponsible
behavior – instead, making responsible and
sustainable leadership the norm across
their business.”
Gianpiero Petriglieri, INSEAD Professor
Practices, systems and processes
to convert responsible leaders’ goals
and values into tangible outcomes
through stakeholder-centric
behavioral change.

9. Sustainability
DNA delivers
behavioral change
throughout the
organization
It comprises 21 practices,
categorized into 10 enablers,
that drive human
connections, collective
intelligence and
accountability at all levels
Stakeholder
Inclusion
Emotion
& Intuition
Mission
& Purpose
Technology
& Innovation
Intellect
& Insight
Analyzes inputs, impacts and risks
across multiple time horizons
→ Performance & Reporting
→ Risk Management
Champions inclusion,
diversity & equality inside the
organization and beyond
→ Equal Workplace
Opportunity
→ Human Development
Prepares people for the future
world of work through targeted
learning and development
→ Employee Growth
→ Ecosystem Development
Harnesses emerging tech to
solve problems without
creating harmful side effects
→ Data Privacy & Consumer
Protection
→ Environmental & Social
Innovation
Elevates good citizenship of
Earth's natural and human
environment
→ Sustainability Stewardship
→ Sustainable Operations
Takes a systematic approach to
upholding and enhancing
business ethics
→ Environmental & Quality
Standards
→ Competition & Conduct
→ Labor Standards
Upholds the rights and
responsibilities of all
stakeholders
→ Stakeholder Welfare
→ Environmental Targets
Is consultative and
listening by default
→ Feedback
Mechanisms
→ Comprehensive
Communication
Shapes workplaces and
stakeholder experience
to build mental and
physical resilience
→ Progressive
Working Practices
→ Health & Well-being
Embeds the organization’s
purpose in all activity
→ Executive Compensation
→ Transparency &
Accountability
Accountability At All Levels → Practices
Collective Intelligence
Human Connections
Click to see the enablers in action
at accenture.com

10. Strong
Sustainability
DNA is
associated with
higher value and
a lasting positive
impact on
society and the
environment
Source: Accenture analysis; Arabesque S-Ray; S&P Capital IQ
Organizations with the most
deeply embedded
Sustainability DNA
outperform peers by 21% on
both profitability, and
positive environmental and
societal outcomes
21%
higher EBITDA margin
(+3.4 percentage points)
21%
higher sustainability performance
(+9.2 index points)

11. Most companies need
to strengthen their
Sustainability DNA
*Based on data of 4,000 companies
Collective Intelligence
Human Connections
Stakeholder
Inclusion
Emotion
& Intuition
Mission
& Purpose
Technology
& Innovation
Intellect
& Insight
Average
score
Human
Connections
score
Collective
Intelligence
score
52/100 57/100 47/100
On average,
companies score 52
out of 100 on the
Sustainable
Organization Index
Companies perform
better at listening to
their stakeholders
They are weaker
at turning insights
into action

12. AB InBev:
Innovating to close the loop
Challenge:
Reducing waste throughout the supply chain
Sustainability DNA in action:
• Planetary Boundaries
• Tangible Empathy
• Progressive Technology
Solution:
AB InBev has set a goal of 100% of primary
packaging to be returnable or made from
majority-recycled content by 2025. Enhanced
collaboration with suppliers, as well as with
start-ups, inventors and suppliers on a range
of innovations, is central to efforts to building
a more sustainable and inclusive value chain.

13. Cisco:
Offering a seat at the virtual table
Challenge:
Creating a more inclusive virtual communication and
collaboration experience for customers
Solution:
Cisco harnessed the power of AI to solve specific
inclusion challenges—such as unequal talk time and
differing levels of linguistic fluency. As a result, WebEx
now allows a meeting host to see who has yet to
contribute to a conversation and provides real-time
translation in 15 languages
Sustainability DNA in action:
• Animated Purpose
• Human Dignity
• Progressive Technology

14. Ecoware:
Championing a gender balanced workforce
Challenge:
Trying to create a more gender equal workforce
in the face of strong cultural resistance
Solution:
Indian food packaging manufacturer Ecoware
clearly prioritized bringing more women into the
workforce. They engaged in open conversations
with managers to understand and mitigate
concerns, and they then developed a set of flexible
practices to help women thrive in the workplace
Sustainability DNA in action:
• Animated Purpose
• Open Dialogue
• Active Resilience

15. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.
A continuous cycle of change to generate value
for all stakeholders
Sustainable leaders can take
actions to strengthen their
Sustainability DNA
15
Diagnose Define Develop
the strength of your
organization’s
Sustainability DNA
interventions to
address areas for
development
your roadmap to
create value while
leading with values
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

16. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 16
Take the Sustainable Organization
Rapid Diagnostic to measure your
progress and benchmark against peers
How strong is your
Sustainability DNA?
Sustainable Organization Rapid Diagnostic
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

17. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 17
Shaping the
Sustainable Organization
Read the report:
accenture.com/sustainableorganization