Our thinking

Slow progress or transformational change?

9 October, 2020

Launching next week is the latest instalment of the Tortoise Media Responsibility 100 Index. Over the last two years, this Index has been assessing the FTSE 100 across a number of indices based on the Sustainable Development Goals, exploring how businesses are actually responding to the issues we face – including those of this year – and challenging their progress. In these truly chaotic times, it will be interesting to see which businesses have doubled down on their efforts and which have stepped back (the Index is so fresh we’ve only just had a sneak peek ourselves).  

After this year’s wake-up calls from the Black Lives Matter movement, Tortoise’s research has found that over $620m has been pledged by companies to organisations aligned with the movement. However, only 20% of the R100 group has set targets around ethnicity. When it comes to gender, uptake on targets are up to 64%. Whilst issues of this scale do not change overnight, the job of business is now to accelerate its drive for change in treating all diversity with the same level of ambition and commitment – moving from financial pledges to internal transformation.   

This is just one snippet of the findings from the latest Index. If you want to find out more, join us at Tortoise’s inaugural Responsibility Summit on Thursday 15th October. The Summit will be bringing together leaders in business, politics and civil society, including Alan Jope (CEO, Unilever), Dave Lewis (former CEO, Tesco), Simon Woolley, Founder and Director of Operation Black Vote and the Advisory Chair of the UK Government’s Race Disparity Unit) and Mona Sutphen, (former Chief of Staff under President Obama). 

To see the full agenda and secure your place, follow this link, click ‘I’ve got an invite code’ at the bottom of the page and use ‘GUESTOFGOODBUSINESS’. We hope to see you there! 

By David Lourie