KSA Business: Sustainability among top priorities on CEO agendas in KSA – Gulf Digital News

KSA Business: Sustainability among top priorities on CEO agendas in KSA – Gulf Digital News

Sustainability is rising higher on corporate agendas, with 62% of CEOs surveyed in Saudi Arabia saying increasing sustainability is a top priority, up 29% since 2021, an IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) study revealed.

While CEOs recognise sustainability as a business imperative and growth driver, a lack of reliable data insights is hindering their ability to take action, the study noted.

IBM’s annual CEO study, Own your impact: Practical pathways to transformational sustainability, which surveyed which surveyed more than 60 CEOs in KSA, found that nearly half of respondents rank sustainability as a top priority for their organisations— an increase of 37% from 2021.

Hurdles remain

However, more than half (51%) of global respondents also cite sustainability as among their greatest challenges in the next two to three years, with lack of data insights, unclear ROI, and technology barriers, as hurdles.

And while 95% of CEOs report being at least in the piloting stage of implementing their sustainability strategy, just under a quarter (23%) say they are implementing their sustainability strategy across their entire organisation.

“CEOs are leading during one of the most complex environments ever, including war, inflation, talent shortages, and the Covid-19 pandemic health crisis," said Fahad Alanazi, General Manager of IBM Saudi