A large number of companies are not implementing environmentally sustainable business strategies, a survey released on Wednesday has revealed.

More than 40 percent of the companies surveyed were not doing so, thereby jeopardising their own long-term sustainability, according to the Supply Chain Intelligence Report 2009.

The study into the supply chain and logistics practices of business in SA was conducted by Terranova Research and based on over 200 interviews with senior company officials.

All major industries in the country were represented, including the automotive, food and beverage, mining, construction, transportation and chemical sectors.

A significant 41.3 percent of the companies did not have, or had no plans to incorporate ways to measure their impact on the environment. These impacts included energy consumption from supply chain operations, carbon emissions from supply chain operations, water consumption from manufacturing operations and infrastructure simplification.

Commenting on the results of the study Graham Terry, head of the office of the executive president at the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants, said since the automotive industry was a global one, it was likely international pressure would cause local motor companies to monitor and report the impact their operations had on the environment in future.

From the oil, gas and chemicals sample the study found 44.6 percent of respondents reported the various environmental impacts were not being measured. Despite this poor result from respondents in this industry, 57.1 percent of this group claimed environmental issues were an important factor in making decisions for their business.

The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector appeared to be only slightly more in tune with the market's concern about the environment.

According to the study, a third of the respondents reported no future plans to incorporate the listed environmental impacts in their management systems, compared to 35.8 percent for the retail sector.

When questioned as to which factors were considered important when making decisions about new products or markets, 55.6 percent of FMCG respondents said environmental issues were critical in decision making, compared to a significantly lower 38.1 percent for the retail sector.

"This could be attributed to many of South Africa's FMCG companies being a part of multi-national groups, and therefore required to adhere to international standards," Terry said.

The unwillingness of more than 40 percent of the South African companies surveyed to adopt new and important ways of measuring their impact on the environment was "alarming", he said.

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