New Metrics

The new and evolving metrics that are helping expand the way businesses create, quantify, manage and report their impacts – and the value they deliver

Article
New Metrics
Trending: New Benchmark, Indices Show Continued Momentum Behind Impact Investing
Trending: New Benchmark, Indices Show Continued Momentum Behind Impact Investing
Published on June 26, 2015
About a 5 minute read

Private impact investment funds — specifically private equity and venture capital funds — that pursue social impact objectives have recorded financial returns in line with a comparative universe of funds that only pursue financial returns, accord... View More

Article
New Metrics
Sustainability Mythbusters: Is Packaging Always a ‘Bad Guy’?
Sustainability Mythbusters: Is Packaging Always a ‘Bad Guy’?
Published on June 19, 2015
About a 3 minute read

In the sustainability arena, we are used to work with a diversity of common sustainability assumptions. However, some of the assumptions that we trust might not be as right as we think they are. A critical eye is required before we consider basing ou... View More

Article
New Metrics
Ecolab Helped Customers Save 115 Billion Gallons of Water in 2014
Ecolab Helped Customers Save 115 Billion Gallons of Water in 2014
Published on June 19, 2015
About a 2 minute read

Ecolab’s efforts to help customers reduce, reuse, manage and treat water more efficiently led to a savings of 115 billion gallons of water in 2014, according to the company’s 2014 Corporate Sustainability Report, released Thursday.The company als... View More

Article
New Metrics
Reports Show We're Beginning to Understand, Quantify Our Dependence on Ecosystems
Reports Show We're Beginning to Understand, Quantify Our Dependence on Ecosystems
Published on June 15, 2015
About a 5 minute read

Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) on Monday outlined in a series of reports how governments, organizations and corporations are successfully moving away from short-term exploitation of the natural world and embracing a long-term vision of ... View More

Article
New Metrics
Criteria That Positively Affect the ROI of Sustainable Tourism
Criteria That Positively Affect the ROI of Sustainable Tourism
Published on June 8, 2015
About a 3 minute read

Ireland has made positive strides in sustainable tourism in the last decade, including the development of a globally recognized tourism eco-certification program and the Wild Atlantic Way touring route filled with agritourism food trails, naturalist-... View More

Article
New Metrics
#SB15sd: How to Stay Afloat in Water Management
#SB15sd: How to Stay Afloat in Water Management
Published on June 2, 2015
About a 2 minute read

Led by Val Fishman, VP of Corporate Partnerships for the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), this panel congregated some of the most influential organizations that are driving change and collaboration within water stewardship. It also congrega... View More

Article
New Metrics
How Can We Assess the Future-Fitness, or True Sustainability, of Our Businesses?
How Can We Assess the Future-Fitness, or True Sustainability, of Our Businesses?
Published on June 2, 2015
About a 3 minute read

Geoff Kendall, co-founder and CEO of the Future-Fit Foundation, set the stage by calling into question most of the existing sustainability performance metrics, which he believes are sending business leaders and investors the wrong signals; “if some... View More

Article
New Metrics
Tennaxia-SASB Partnership Simplifies Sustainability Data for Companies, Investors
Tennaxia-SASB Partnership Simplifies Sustainability Data for Companies, Investors
Published on May 27, 2015
About a 3 minute read

A new partnership between data management company Tennaxia and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) may make it easier for companies to measure, manage and report on the sustainability data most essential for financial performance and... View More

Article
New Metrics
Science- vs. Context-Based Metrics – What’s the Difference?
Science- vs. Context-Based Metrics – What’s the Difference?
Published on May 25, 2015
About a 6 minute read

As the importance of measurement and reporting in sustainability continues to grow, it should be helpful, I think, to clarify the distinction between so-called science- and context-based metrics. These terms are not synonymous, although they do overl... View More

Article
New Metrics
Announcing The Product Social Footprinting Programme
Announcing The Product Social Footprinting Programme
Published on May 25, 2015
About a 3 minute read

During my past five years at PRé, I’ve observed how companies approach different issues. I’m very interested in social impact assessment, and I experienced that companies have wildly different approaches for assessing the social impacts of their... View More

Article
New Metrics
Utility – the Fundamental Metric of Social Impact
Utility – the Fundamental Metric of Social Impact
Published on May 22, 2015
About a 10 minute read

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”— John DonneIs the world a better place because we exist?Socially useful business is neither a new idea nor one that is particularly at odds with... View More

Article
New Metrics
Lost in Translation: How to Find a Common Language Between Departments
Lost in Translation: How to Find a Common Language Between Departments
Published on May 20, 2015
About a 6 minute read

Despite the progress being made in organizations around the world in the pursuit of sustainability, many still suffer from internal breakdowns in communication on the subject, even when all teams are, ultimately, working toward the same goal. We aske... View More

Article
New Metrics
Kering Releases EP&L Methodology to Encourage Wider Adoption of Natural Capital Accounting
Kering Releases EP&L Methodology to Encourage Wider Adoption of Natural Capital Accounting
Published on May 19, 2015
About a 4 minute read

Today, Kering released the results of its Environmental Profit and Loss Account (EP&L) — measuring the environmental footprint of its operations and across supply chains — and released the methodology as an open-source tool to encourage other... View More

Article
New Metrics
Creating More Value, Profit with 21st-Century Financial Statements — and CPAs
Creating More Value, Profit with 21st-Century Financial Statements — and CPAs
Published on May 15, 2015
About a 6 minute read

Shareholders would revolt — and fire the CEO, CFO and Boards of Directors — of companies who ignore more than 80 percent of the factors that drive more value and profit.Prepare for a revolution, as 84 percent is the proportion of corporate value ... View More

Article
New Metrics
How a Life Cycle-Driven Business Model Can Accelerate Sustainable Value Creation
How a Life Cycle-Driven Business Model Can Accelerate Sustainable Value Creation
Published on May 11, 2015
About a 3 minute read

When Peter Bakker from the WBCSD declared that corporate social responsibility is dead, he urged us to create new definitions of success. The change to a more holistic approach is already happening. However, shouldn’t we place the shared value that... View More

Article
New Metrics
#BusinessCase: Dow/TNC Study Highlights Benefits of Valuing Ecosystem Services
#BusinessCase: Dow/TNC Study Highlights Benefits of Valuing Ecosystem Services
Published on May 5, 2015
About a 3 minute read

According to a recent study in Ecosystem Services, businesses may pay more for less reliable sources of water in the future. ... View More

Article
New Metrics
Is It Objective to ‘Be Objective’ About Sustainable Business Metrics?: Part 14
Is It Objective to ‘Be Objective’ About Sustainable Business Metrics?: Part 14
Published on May 1, 2015
About a 7 minute read

In 13 earlier parts of this series, Claire Sommer and I developed 25 pitfalls in the sustainable business metrics field, based on the experiences of many mostly non-business fields. (Find them here.)It is tempting to believe objectivity is possible, ... View More

Article
New Metrics
‘Return on Meaning’: Top Meaningful Brands Enjoy 46% Higher Share of Wallet Than Low Performers
‘Return on Meaning’: Top Meaningful Brands Enjoy 46% Higher Share of Wallet Than Low Performers
Published on April 28, 2015
About a 5 minute read

Meaningful Brands® – Havas Media Group’s metric of brand strength – is the first global study to show how our quality of life and wellbeing connects with brands at both a human and business level. The study includes 1,000 brands, 300,000 peopl... View More

Article
New Metrics
EPA: US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fall 9% Since 2005
EPA: US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fall 9% Since 2005
Published on April 21, 2015
About a 2 minute read

Total greenhouse gas emissions generated in the United States increased by 2 percent from 2012 to 2013, but emission levels in 2013 were 9 percent below 2005 levels, according to a new annual report by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).The... View More

Slides
New MetricsMarketing & Communications
Five Case Studies Proving the ROI of Sustainability
Five Case Studies Proving the ROI of Sustainability
Published on April 17, 2015

Sustainable Brands has pulled together this compilation of five research studies that collectively demonstrate the positive ROI of sustainability from a variety of angles, including company revenue, stock performance, cost reduction, brand reputation... View More

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