July 2008, World Business Council for Sustainable Development
The Framework includes 3 components:
- Business case for measuring impacts entitled “Beyond the bottom line”, highlighting the experience of several WBCSD member companies
- 4-step methodology to identify, measure, assess and manage impacts
- Excel-based user guide that helps companies carry out an assessment
Key features of the Framework include:
- Built by business for business – reflects the collaborative work of over 25 multinational companies over a 2-year period
- Grounded in what business does – based around activities and processes that companies do every day
- Moves beyond compliance – attempts to answer questions about what business contributes beyond traditional reporting
- Encourages stakeholder engagement – supports open dialogue with stakeholders to create a shared understanding of business impacts and societal needs, and to explore what business can and cannot do to address these needs
- Flexible - designed for any business and/or industry at any stage in its business cycle, operating anywhere in the world
- Complements existing tools – makes use of what is already out there (for example, the Global Reporting Initiative and International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards)
- Externally reviewed – reviewed by more than 15 stakeholders, ranging from non-governmental organizations to academia and government, including Oxfam, World Resources Institute, IFC and Harvard University.
The Framework includes an analysis of why companies should measure and understand how they impact societies and how they can benefit from that knowledge. Anticipating societal changes, finding new business opportunities, improving relationships with communities and managing risks are just some of the benefits outlined by the WBCSD.
