Top 10: Sustainability Organisations and Associations
Sustainable investing has grown by 15% in the last two years alone - more than US$30tn worldwide is invested in sustainable assets.
By 2030, ESG assets are expected to reach over US$40tn.
Organisations that prioritise sustainability are not only contributing to the health of the planet, but setting themselves up for long-term success.
Associations focussed on sustainability exist to guide leaders in organisations and governments to a better future.
We’ve ranked 10 of the best sustainability associations supporting leaders across the globe as we work towards protecting people and the environment for a better future.
10. Institute of Business Ethics
CEO: Lauren Branston
Focus: Ethics
Founded: 1986
Location: London
The Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) works with organisations to support them in achieving the highest standards of ethical behaviour.
CEO Lauren Branston says: “I am delighted to lead the Institute of Business Ethics at such a pivotal time for business, sustainability and society. I’m excited about the opportunity to take the IBE forward and to help businesses ‘do the right thing’.”
9. European Sustainable Investment Forum
Executive Director: Aleksandra Palinska
Focus: Finance
Founded: 2010
Location: Paris
The European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif) supports governments and businesses in making sustainable financial decisions.
Executive Director Aleksandra Palinska says: “Investors deserve to know whether they fund a small proportion of issuers’ activities which happen to be green while the issuers’ other activities do significant harm to people or environment.”
8. International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation
Chair: Erkki Liikanen
Focus: Finance
Founded: 2001
Location: London
The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation enables companies to provide transparent, reliable information to investors. In 2021 the foundation created the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), designed to deliver a global baseline of sustainability disclosures.
ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber says: “As part of our building blocks approach, we are liaising closely with jurisdictions and other standard-setters to ensure the ISSB’s Standards are interoperable with jurisdiction requirements.”
7. Science Based Targets Initiative
CEO: Susan Jenny Ehr
Focus: Sustainability targets
Founded: 2015
Location: London
The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) develops tools, standards and guidance for companies to set evidence-based sustainability targets. Despite recent controversy about carbon offsetting, the SBTi is a world leader in showing companies how much emissions they have to reduce and how quickly to avoid catastrophic damage to the environment.
Chair Francesto Starace says: "Together, we remain focused on our collective efforts to help companies around the world to deliver on the commitments of the Paris Agreement."
6. Friends of the Earth
Chair: Hemantha Withanage
Focus: Sustainability advocacy
Founded: 1969
Location: Amsterdam
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of organisations in 73 countries made up of around 5,000 local activist groups. In 2021, a legal battle led by Friends of the Earth Netherlands ended in the court ruling energy giant Shell must reduce its emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.
International Programme Coordinator Sara Shaw says: “As the global carbon market inexorably advances despite all our opposition, we see the toxic threat of damaging technofixes combining with a supercharged market that wrecks nature, harms people and leads to no emissions reductions.”
5. World Wide Fund for Nature
President and CEO: Carter Roberts
Focus: Conservation
Founded: 1961
Location: Switzerland
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) works to preserve wildlife and reduce human impact on the environment. Since 1995 it has invested over US$1bn in more than 12,000 conservation initiatives.
President and CEO Carter Roberts says: “People look to WWF and its leadership to bring imagination and perseverance to the important work of conservation, and to build bridges between government, civil society and business in devising solutions at the scale of the challenges we face. The world demands no less of us.”
4. Rainforest Alliance
CEO: Santiago Gowland
Focus: Agriculture
Founded: 1987
Location: New York City
The Rainforest Alliance provides an environmental certification for sustainability in agriculture alongside developing and implementing conservation and community development programs.
Founder and Chairman Daniel Katz says: “Our work is groundbreaking; certification has not only helped companies recognize the impact of their sourcing choices, but has also helped connect consumers with the farmers and forest communities who steward the world’s most precious landscapes.”
3. Greenpeace
Executive Director: Mads Christensen
Focus: Environmentalism
Founded: 1971
Location: Amsterdam
Greenpeace is a global campaigning network of 26 organisations in over 55 countries. It defines itself as using non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems and develop solutions for a green and peaceful future. It has three seagoing ships in service, used to campaign on the oceans.
Executive Director Mads Christensen says: “Inside Greenpeace I found something incredibly powerful – a community and a home for people who are driven by the notion of hope in action.
“It is the heartbeat of every campaign and every action. It is the origin of every victory that drives a crack into the glass that locks us inside a broken and unjust system. It is the belief that not only can things change, but together we can change them for the better.”
2. World Health Organisation
Director General: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Focus: Public health
Founded: 1948
Location: Geneva
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations that is specifically responsible for international public health. Its official mandate is to promote health and safety while helping the vulnerable worldwide. It has played a role in many public health advancements, including the development of an Ebola vaccine and the eradication of smallpox.
Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says: “I envision a world in which everyone can live healthy, productive lives, regardless of who they are or where they live.
“Health is a right for all people, not a luxury.
“In fact, the WHO constitution was the first instrument of international law to affirm that the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental right of all people, without distinction.
“Today, at least 140 countries recognize the right to health in their own constitutions. And yet, around the world, that right is often unrealised or under threat.”
1. United Nations
Secretary General: António Guterres
Focus: Intergovernmental communications
Founded: 1945
Location: New York City
The United Nations (UN) states its purposes are to maintain peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet. It is the world’s largest international organisation, made up of 193 member states. The organisation and its staff have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 12 times.
The organisation holds yearly climate conferences known as ‘COP’ where governments and leaders come together to set sustainable goals for the future.
Secretary General António Guterres says: “In the end, it comes down to values. We want the world our children inherit to be defined by the values enshrined in the UN Charter: peace, justice, respect, human rights, tolerance and solidarity.
“We do have a choice: Creating tipping points for climate progress – or careening to tipping points for climate disaster. This is an all-in moment. The United Nations is all-in – working to build trust, find solutions, and inspire the cooperation our world so desperately needs.
“It’s We the Peoples versus the polluters and the profiteers. Together, we can win. But it’s time for leaders to decide whose side they’re on. Tomorrow is too late. Now is the time to mobilise, now is the time to act, now is the time to deliver.”
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