CFO.com (March 13)
“While any good finance executive will focus first on the costs and revenue opportunities in proposed energy-saving plants, the risks and benefits to company employees and external society will be squarely on his or her radar, because they potentially affect the company’s brand reputation.” Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) will also have their eyes open for sweet spots, “where what’s good for the planet melds seamlessly with what’s good for the bottom line. For example, Costco found that changing its energy consumption helped cut its costs.” The problem is that most environmentally based metrics aren’t linked to financial metrics. For example, when a company reduces its carbon footprint, CFOs want to see the link with “an income statement, balance sheet, or cash-flow statement.” Does the smaller footprint reduce costs, increase sales or reduce liabilities such as lawsuits? “The challenge of sustainability at the corporate level is to find a way to answer that question in hard, numeric, provable ways that take into account the self-interest so basic to our free-enterprise system.”
Tags: Benefits, CFOs, Costs, Environment, Finance, Metrics, Risks, Sustainability
