Globalisation has failed to mitigate climate change, according to a survey of chief executives by consultancy PwC.
Globalisation has failed to mitigate climate change, according to a survey of chief executives by consultancy PwC.
Almost three-quarters (72%) of the 1,378 CEOs polled as part of PwC’s 20th annual survey said increased global trade and connectivity had not helped to avert climate change and resource scarcity. A majority also said globalisation had failed to promote the development of fairer tax systems (65%) and close the gap between rich and poor (56%).
This year’s results are the first to question globalisation as a positive development, and PwC said a paradigm shift in the role of business was required to produce the ‘better, more harmonious, less divided planet’.
It added: ‘In the headlong rush to reap the benefits of technology and globalisation, the human factor has been lost. It’s time for CEOs to step forward and help safeguard the future by ensuring the benefits of business go to everyone.’
Business leaders are also concerned about skills, with the proportion of CEOs anxious about workers’ abilities more than doubling since 1998, from 31% to 77%. Creativity and innovation, leadership and emotional intelligence are the skills companies are finding it difficult to recruit.
Digital and STEM skills are a recruitment issue for more than half of business leaders. PwC said companies were addressing future skills needs through diversity and inclusiveness programmes and by improving workforce mobility.
The poll found CEOs increasingly fear that public trust in business is eroding. Twenty years ago, trust barely registered on the business radar of CEOs and 15 years ago just 12% of business leaders thought public trust in companies had greatly declined. This year, 58% of respondents worry that a lack of trust in business will harm their company’s growth, up from 37% in 2013.
