Businesses can be part of the solution in addressing the impacts that climate change has on people and will have on future generations. It is important that children and young people are listened to and that businesses act on their views.
I am sorry I am late to this dialog. My name is Peter Burgess. I am post-career but still very interested in the big issues of our day. The idea of performance measurement has been central to my career, and it remains as important today as it ever was. The dominant metric in the modern world is profit performance of the business sector, and the associated company value / stock price that results from this. Because these metrics are in play, performance has improved over time. The metrics for social progress and performance are weak, and people have not progressed (in terms of quality of life) very much at all. Powerful rich companies and individuals don’t want social activities and success to get in the way of profit performance of their investments. The same goes for environmental progress and performance. ESG metrics are a big con. The set of metrics should be ESP … Environment, Social and (Economic) Profits. G for Governance is not a metric of performance but something quite different. My impression is that the business world in general wants to avoid the reality that in order for a business to have impactful social performance and be positive with respect to the environment, there will be a lowering of the profit performance. The challenge is for investors (and investment analysts) to value the performance of E (environment) and S (society) as positively as they value Profit. This cannot happen until there is widespread acceptance of metrics for ALL of these elements of performance. This is what I am trying to do with the TrueValueMetrics.org (TVM ) initiative … a labor of love … but also something that has huge potential. Others are working in the same space, but mostly their work relates to just a limited part of the overall socio-enviro-economic system. My position is that there should be comprehensive and coherent metrics that apply to everything everywhere … and much more thinking in terms of people as the center of everything rather than the business organization and the investment community … and of course, not ignoring the environment in the way it has been ignored during the past century or more. Technology is amazingly productive … why is the world such a mess? Business is profitable, but costly for society and the environment !!! PeterB / TrueValueMetrics.org
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Thanks for all this amazing exchange of knowledge, expertise and collaboration.
Here my conclusion:
current challenges demand the ignition of an innovator approach of development in which nature is valued in a more holistic manner, and in which the contribution to the preservation, restoration and conservation of nature become the most important indicator
to the market and non-market valuation of products and services, the development and well-being of all species.
In order to fully pursue the promise of the social contracts that exist between people and governments, climate action needs to be a collective resolve.
Matt, who is funding this work? It would be nice to hear that the ‘targeted 450’ companies funded the work… Otherwise…
Hi Mihaela - WBA’s work is funded by governments and foundations. Info on our funders can be found here