Key Business Metrics That Drive Sustainability Into the Organization and Its Value Chain

Increasingly, business is adopting the understanding that financial performance is in fact linked to environmental and social performance; sustainability represents to business not just a lens through which to better understand and manage risks but also one for developing business opportunities and innovation. Measuring sustainability is therefore important to business if it is to more effectively manage these dimensions, as well as make informed decisions for long-term success. In seeking better ways to measure performance across the spectrum of sustainability concerns, various methodologies have emerged that attempt to better link sustainability metrics to business strategies, stakeholder issues, and resulting business objectives and actions. This keynote will highlight a few methods, including the GEMI Metrics Navigator? approach, to identifying and developing the ?critical few? metrics that link business success factors to environmental, social and financial performance, and serve as a guide to more socially responsible business practices. Examples from industry on the development and use of sustainability metrics to drive performance will also be presented.