71% of Wealthy Americans Are "Green" - But How Many Europeans? How Many Indians?
- By Professor Prabhu Guptara
- Published 02/3/2009
Professor Prabhu Guptara
Professor Prabhu Guptara is Executive Director, Organisational Development, Wolfsberg (a subsidiary of UBS - one of the largest banks in the world). He is also Freeman of the City of London and of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, and Chartered Fellow of the of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; he is also Fellow: of the Institute of Directors, of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts Commerce and Manufactures; and he continues to supervise PhD research at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) as well as to be Visiting Professor at various Universities and Business Schools around the world.
Earlier roles include: a Governor of the Polytechnic of Central London, Member of the Council of the British Institute of Management, of the International Federation of Training & Development Organisations (IFTDO), of the Association for Management Education and Development (UK), of the South East Regional Council of the Confederation of British Industry.
Judge, 1988 National Training Awards, 1980 Commonwealth Poetry Prize, 1990 & 1991 Deo Gloria Prize for Fiction; Chair of the Panel of Judges, Deo Gloria Prize 1992 & 1993.
Experience with an enormous range of organisations including: Akzo Nobel (Netherlands), the Associated Banks Institute (Germany), Barclays Bank (UK), British Petroleum (UK), the Council of Europe, Cultor (Finland), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Groupe Bull (France), Federation of Finnish Engineers (Finland), the International Management Association of Japan, Kemira (Finland), Kraft Jakob Suchard (Switzerland), Leadership Academy (Finland), Nokia Telecommunications (Finland), Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Sedgwick International Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers (UK), Singapore Institute of Management, Sonatrach (Algeria), Sun Alliance (UK), UNCTAD, Valeo (France), and so on.
Organiser, chair and lecturer by invitation for numerous international conferences, he has contributed widely to radio and television in the UK and other countries (The Money Program, Any Questions) and has written for Financial Times (London, UK), The Guardian, The Times and other publications; articles, for example, in The Gower Handbook of Management, The Gower Handbook of Quality, and the International Encyclopedia of Business & Management (Routledge).
A CD-ROM has been issued of his lecture at the Professorenforum, University of Zurich, titled "Making the World Better - Why it does NOT happen...and what TO DO about it"
Further information available from rbadertscher@coba.ch
His best-known research publication is "Top Executives in the Global 100 Companies and their IT-Competence" (ADVANCE: Management Training Ltd., UK, and Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre, Switzerland, 1998); and he is included in Debrett's People of Today and in Who's Who in the World. Professor Prabhu Guptara lives in Switzerland.
Fascinating (but totally unsurprising) survey just in, saying that most wealthy Americans Support environmentally- and socially-friendly choices and policies:
The 5th Annual Wealth and Values Survey by PNC Wealth Management, a member of The PNC Financial Services Group Inc., reports that 71 percent of "wealthy" (i.e. with at least $500,000 in investable assets) have socially responsible and green investments in their portfolio. As many as 57 percent say they have up to 25 percent of their portfolio in such investments. Nine percent have between 25-50 percent!
Other findings:
83 percent recycle at home, and 77 believe that “small lifestyle changes can make an impact on the environment if everyone participates.”
56 percent “choose paperless options whenever it is offered.”
53 percent says they will consider environmental issues when they renovate or upgrade their home.
39 percent “plan to buy a hybrid car.”
39 percent say they “do business with companies that have socially responsible corporate initiatives,” while only 15 percent disagree.
If a similar survey was done in Europe, my guess is that the proportions would be roughly similar in Northern Europe, but not as good in Eastern and Southern Europe.
What about China, India, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America....? My guess would be: VERY much lower.....
