This article was originally published on GreenBiz.
“…Imagine if business people consistently examined decisions in terms of prospects for total value generation — financial ROI, as well as measurable local community- and societal returns, and also environmentally beneficial outcomes. Corporate decisions could be thoroughly assessed for a 360-degree view on risk and opportunity. Investors, shareholders, business decision-makers, and employees would all have more insight with which to make decisions.
This idea is no longer far-flung. A growing set of corporate leaders — as varied as Dow, SwissRe,Unilever, Interface, and others — actively consider multiple dimensions to decision-making. Corporate case examples of multi-dimensional factors being brought into decision-making, and value creation have been laid out by BSR, the Corporate Eco Forum, the Natural Capital Coalition, the Shared Value Initiative, Social Value Portal, the Nature Conservancy and others. Many of these cases illustrate corporate “shared value” creation, as well as the business “benefit multiplier” of investing in nature.
The rationale is simple. More information about corporate risk and opportunity offers an expanded range of insight, which translates into better decisions and management. This broadened range of sight will also serve companies well in an era of greater corporate transparency — as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are increasingly queried by investors and shareholders, who wish to understand risk in a climate changing, water challenged, and socio-economically unequal world…”
Read on at: GreenBiz.
