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Finding the Value in Values Is More Important Than Ever

There are many things the US election didn’t change — including European regulations, consumer pressures, worsening effects of climate change, and what needs to be done. All of these things mean that investment in sustainability needs to grow, and quickly.

Last week’s US election didn’t change what has to be done: The world still needs a climate-transition plan, and overall sustainability progress, just as much.

But the election did change expectations about regulation, sustainable investment and the overall direction of related policies — and it likely further emboldened opponents of sustainability.

Because of expected changes in regulation and policy, companies may be re-examining the extent of their investments in sustainability. And because of emboldened opponents, companies may be looking for different ways to talk about their environmental and social programs. This means sustainability practitioners will need to address both types of changes in order to continue doing what needs to be done.

Finding the value in values can really help.

Here are three things to keep in mind:

First, better identifying the 'hidden' business benefits of sustainability activities — the submerged value they create — can dramatically change their perceived ROI. In fact, my experience has been that submerged value is typically 4 to 10 times as much as visible value. (There’s more about that here, and in my book.)

Quantifying the true value of environmental and social programs helps justify continued — or even expanded — investment. And it can do so regardless of changes in government policies.

Second, demonstrating greater ROI also enables companies to talk about sustainability more as a business driver. This is always beneficial. But it is especially helpful if a company would otherwise stop talking about its sustainability programs or, even worse, stop investing in them.

If sustainability opponents ratchet up their criticism of environmental and social programs, being able to point to significant business value they create will provide an extra line of defense. It also helps sway audiences that are most focused on financial returns, potentially adding an important set of allies to the sustainability coalition.

Third, there are many things the election didn’t change — including European regulations, consumer pressures, worsening effects of climate change and, most importantly, what needs to be done. All of these things mean that investment in sustainability needs to grow, and quickly. Here, too, demonstrating the value of values can help.

Last week, I was talking with the chief operating officer of a company that has always felt that they should do what is right, socially and environmentally. Therefore, the COO told me, they have invested in sustainability since the beginning. However, if they could show a greater ROI, they could invest — and do — far more.

That’s exactly what is needed: far greater investment and action. Whether the political changes affect your company or not, better quantifying sustainability’s ROI can help you stay the course.

What you can do:

  • Take a renewed look at your key Audiences and at the Information and Messaging (AIM) that is likely to resonate with them. (If you’re interested, here’s more about AIM).

  • Begin surfacing submerged value, to whatever extent you can. Even if you can’t fully quantify it — even just a verbatim quote from a customer can be persuasive to some audiences — you can still prove that the only value sustainability can’t have is zero.

Daniel Aronson is the founder of Valutus, which specializes in creating value through sustainability and responsibility, the creator of the Value of Values™ Model, and the author of the book The Value of Values (MIT Press, February 6, 2024). He has helped clients identify and quantify over $2 billion in sustainability-driven business value.

Daniel coined the term “submerged value” and created the first set of tools for dramatically accelerating double materiality (Materiality Science™).

He has guest lectured at Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan’s Sustainability Lab and has written or been featured in over 100 articles and publications.



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