Accenture: Still has to make business sense...

According to a new Accenture study, nine out of ten companies report that climate change is not a big priority.

According to the report, just 5% of big businesses consider global warming a top priority, and only 11% peg it at second or third place.

"Climate change is not going to get nearly the same degree of attention here as it would have achieved if the economic outlook were brighter," says Mark Spelman, global head of strategy at Accenture. "Whenever there are underlying economic concerns, people will focus on them."

I wrote last week about whether or not sustainability practices would be recession-proof. Accenture's findings confirm that, as a stand alone, climate change and the associated work required by an enterprise company, are not important enough to prioritize. But if those changes can be aligned with a strong, direct business benefit - higher profits, growing revenue, reduced costs - that's when projects get prioritized and green lighted.

More on recession-proof green practices here.