Inbrief

The recession has led to ‘resounding indecision and confusion’ in boardrooms on the issue of sustainability, according to a UK study conducted by the Future Laboratory think tank for O2. The survey of directors at 500 companies, all with turnovers of over £50million, found that for five years sustainability and long-termism have made significant gains, but that the recession is eroding those gains, with 36 per cent saying they would ‘focus on profit and survival’ in the next year. The results contradict a global study earlier this year in which eight in ten chief executives thought recession had raised the importance of sustainability.