Action amid Uncertainty (PDF), A report recently released by Ernst & Young demonstrates how global executives are speaking out against climate change. The paper surveys the thoughts of 300 executives with revenue spanning more than U$1B annually. The report defines five consistent global themes related to business and environmental action.

1. Executive leadership is critical to good governance - more than 90% of the executives surveyed said that climate change governance lies with C-suite executives or board members.

2. Business drivers are dominated by top-line and bottom-line impacts and are creating a race to innovate - two-thirds of the respondents have launched an enterprise-wide climate change program and a further 16% expect to do so in the next two years.

3. Despite regulatory uncertainty, climate change investment is on the rise - major drivers for investment were found to include the need to improve energy efficiency and to develop new products and services with improved transparency and corporate reporting.

4. Execution is challenging, but executives are committed to action - executives admit the road to sustainability is complex and challenging, with the most difficult challenge being to drive cultural shifts towards environmental action through engaging employees.

5. Transparent reporting gains momentum - 64% of the respondents provided transparent greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting as part of their annual CSR reporting structure and have implemented effective monitoring, reporting and verification systems for climate change reporting.

Click here to read the full report in PDF.