Sustainable development survey shows 'wide degree of uncertainty' - But the survey suggests there has been a step in the right direction, according to BiE [Business in the Environment]. When asked directly about the importance of environment factors in evaluating companies, a third of analysts said that environmental policy was "fairly or very" important, compared with only a fifth of analysts in 1994. The figure for social policy has increased by an even wider margin since 1994, from 12 to 34 per cent.