The findings of an inquiry into the leadership skills needed to enable the transition to a sustainable economy are published today. Vincent de Rivaz, CEO of EDF Energy led the inquiry with Business in the Community in his role as HRH The Prince of Wales's National Ambassador for 2009. As part of the inquiry, Ipsos conducted research among business people in member companies of HRH The Prince of Wales's Mayday Network on Climate Change and members of Business in the Community.

Among these companies already engaged in the sustainability agenda, the survey found that:

• Almost everybody (99 per cent) already recognises that developing the skills we need for a sustainable economy is important to the future success of the UK economy
• Nine out of 10 (92 per cent) agree that businesses need to do more to prepare their people for the transition to a sustainable economy
• But only 15 per cent think developing the skills needed is well or partly established in UK businesses - even though around half (48 per cent) say this is already well or partly established in their own company
• Eight out of 10 (84 per cent) think there is an urgent need to put more programmes in place to develop these skills

For more information and to download the summary report, please go to:

• Mayday Network Event160Summary
• Mayday Network Research160Summary160

Or160download the full Ipsos report (PDF).

Note on Research

An160online quantitative survey was conducted among member companies of HRH The Prince of Wales's Mayday Network on Climate Change, and also member companies of Business in the Community. The survey was dispatched to 4,454 business contacts in around 2,500 organisations, including main environment/sustainability/responsibility contacts and also Board-level contacts. Overall we received 704 completed responses. Fieldwork was conducted between 1 and 28 March 2010. No weighting has been applied to the data.