Environmental sustainability is an important priority with private equity and corporate senior executives, according to a recent poll conducted byPwC US. The poll, conducted during PwC's "Private Equity and Environmental Sustainability" Webcast, found that 88 percent of the 175 participants believe sustainability will become a more important factor in business decisions and investments in the next two years. Another 22 percent responded that they are in the early stages of developing a sustainability strategy for their organizations.

Several factors were cited by participants as the leading drivers for sustainability at their respective organizations, with profit opportunity ranking first, at 33.5 percent, followed by risk mitigation, which was noted by 22 percent of those polled. Other factors included image enhancement (19 percent) and regulation (9.5 percent).

"Environmental sustainability is a long term value creation lever for private equity firms and corporations and, as demonstrated by our latest poll, decision makers in these organizations see sustainability as a key issue that will play an even larger role moving forward," saidLauren Koopman, PwC Director, U.S.Sustainable Business Solutions.

The 175 private equity and corporate participants in the poll also cited several barriers towards embedding sustainability across their organizations. The majority, or 54 percent of the participants, said that they either have no mandate or insufficient resources when it comes to embedding sustainability across their organizations.

"It's a mistake not to look at the opportunities that a strategic sustainability program can bring to private equity and businesses of all shapes and sizes," saidTim Hartnett, PwC's U.S. Private Equity Leader. "Beyond compliance, environmental sustainability affects the entire business spectrum, offering benefits through a strategic, operational, reputational and financial lens."

Of the senior executives identified in the poll from the private equity community, 72 percent responded that sustainability is a top of mind priority or important to their firms. This compares to 68 percent of the executives from corporate organizations who had the same responses.

"Private equity firms are increasingly exploring the value that sustainability initiatives can bring to their current portfolio companies and future investments through cost savings, revenue growth, risk mitigation, and reputational benefits," added PwC's Hartnett. "Leading private equity firms are launching widespread sustainability initiatives to capture cost savings at their portfolio companies such as energy and resource efficiency, fuel savings, waste reduction, and other innovative initiatives - resulting in millions saved."