New IBM Study suggests inadequate data hinders progress against environmental, social and governance goals

IBM has conducted a global study on Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) goals, which found that inadequate data is a major challenge for both executives and consumers in achieving personal and corporate ESG objectives. The survey of 2,500 executives across 22 industries and 34 countries revealed that 41% identified inadequate data as the biggest obstacle to their ESG progress, followed by regulatory barriers (39%), inconsistent standards (37%), and inadequate skills (36%). Meanwhile, 4 in 10 consumers feel they have insufficient data to make environmentally sustainable purchasing or employment decisions. On the other side, 73% of Executives say their organizations struggle to manage an overload of manual data, while 7 in 10 say they have difficulty consolidating or manipulating data.  Executives also admit their companies haven’t made significant progress toward ESG goals, indicating data challenges impact their ability to measure progress and meet consumer demands.