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
Beyond the SEC and Disclosure: Why Materiality Matters
Materiality is murky – especially when it comes to sustainability. Reporting on material issues in the financial context has been legally required for decades and is widely understood. It is less widely understood – and not yet well applied – i... View More
Oxfam: Big 10 Food Brands Must Walk Their Talk to Truly Boost Social Sustainability
Nine of the “Big 10” global food and beverage companies - Associated British Foods (ABF), Coca-Cola, Danone, General Mills, Kellogg, Mars, Mondelez, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever - have improved their ratings by at least 10 percent in three years... View More
How to Take the Pain Out of CSR Reporting
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and other forms of sustainability reporting can be a painful process. Whether you’re a one-person sustainability, health and safety manager or your company has staff around the world who share reporting respons... View More
G-Star, Ted Baker Lead Fashion Sustainability Disclosure with MADE-BY’s Revamped Scorecards
Fashion brands’ sustainability performance has lacked independent verification and true transparency. European non-profit MADE-BY is hoping their ‘ground-breaking’ new tool, called MODE Tracker, will change that. ... View More
Chris Hale: The Future of Impact Investing is About Measuring Impact
That investing to make a positive impact as well as a dime has evolved considerably over the past few years has turned on its head a long-standing worldview that the sole purpose of business and investing is to make money, while solving social and en... View More
True Materiality and Integral Thinking: Editor's Postlude
It has been my pleasure to edit this tour-de-force 6-part series — now an e-book — by my colleague, Ralph Thurm, in which he lays out his vision for how integral thinking and true materiality can catalyze a regenerative and inclusive economy, lev... View More
New Evidence Bolsters Claims of Connectivity Between CSR and Market Caps
Last August, I published an article here in which I described what, to me, is the most compelling business case for corporate sustainability or CSR extant: the fact that it literally drives the market values of publicly traded firms up or down in mea... View More
How Do We Assess Impact (and Why Should We)?
I recently attended the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) 2nd Inclusive Business Forum for Asia in the Philippines, where I sat in on an engaging discussion on assessing the merits of impact investments. ... View More
Integral Thinking and True Materiality Define Trust, Innovation, Resilience (Part 6)
This is the final part of a 6-part series about integral thinking and true materiality. It proposes a new impetus to develop reporting that is able to serve the idea of a green & inclusive economy. ... View More
How to Make a Material Impact on Your Company's Sustainability
Sustainability Rising It will come as no surprise to this community that sustainability has moved well beyond social and environmental responsibility circles to become a C-suite priority. The numbers give voice to the trend: ... View More
Integral Thinking & True Materiality, Part 5: Scalability Opportunities Define the Size of Impact
This is part 5 of a 6-part series about integral thinking and true materiality. It proposes a new impetus to develop reporting that is able to serve the idea of a green & inclusive economy. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. ... View More
Q&A: How the YK Center Is Pushing Forward the ‘New Economy’
That the future of profit is purpose is the modus operandi of the YK Center, a self-proclaimed “for-benefit organization” striving to push the needle on a more sustainable economy. ... View More
Integral Thinking, Part 4: Defining Success Leads to True Value Creation
This is part 4 of a 6-part series about integral thinking and true materiality. It proposes a new impetus to develop reporting that is able to serve the idea of a green & inclusive economy. Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. ... View More
What If 'Opposites' Aren't Really Opposite?: Part 19
In 18 earlier parts of this series, Claire Sommer, Jill Lipoti and I developed 37 pitfalls in the sustainable business metrics field, based on the experiences of many mostly non-business fields (Find them here.). ... View More
Integral Thinking and True Materiality, Part 3: Purpose Definition Defines Connectedness
This is Part 3 of a 6-part series about integral thinking and true materiality. It proposes a new impetus to develop reporting that is able to serve the idea of a green & inclusive economy. Read Part 1 and Part 2. ... View More
Sustainability Mythbusters: Products With 'Zero Emissions'
It's easy to use 'common sense' and make assumptions in sustainability, but does that get you the results you want? As a science-based method, LCA is an excellent tool to bust the myths that surround sustainability. In this series, we look at some co... View More
Researchers from ASU, Yale, NOAA Develop Equation for Calculating Value of Natural Capital
Many businesses have come to better understand the critical importance of nature as an input, but the question still remains as to how its value compares to other assets — not as lumber or drinking water or a fancy dinner, but as standing forests, ... View More
The Need for Integral Thinking and True Materiality
This is part 2 of a 6-part series about integral thinking and true materiality. It proposes a new impetus to develop reporting that is able to serve the idea of a green & inclusive economy. Part 1 can be found here.Those of us who have been worki... View More
'Integral Thinking and True Materiality': An Introduction
If 2015 was the year that inspired new hope in sustainability with the publication of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the success of COP21, 2016 is the year the rubber needs to hit the road when it comes to implementation and impact. So ... View More
It's All Relative: The Fatal Flaw in Corporate Sustainability Ratings
Corporate sustainability ratings are of growing interest to business leaders, investors, and the general public. The annual releases of popular ratings such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the... View More
