Revealing differing attitudes to sustainability through how we talk

Measuring sustainability can be difficult. While companies’ impact on the planet and people is tangible, the metrics to track this impact are harder to define.

The sustainability of an organisation is made up of a myriad of business decisions, policies, and programmes which come together to form its impact. In other words, the imprint (be it positive or negative) it has on both the environment and on local and global communities.

Despite the implementation of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) frameworks, many organisations struggle to get hold of meaningful analytical intelligence around ESG and sustainability data and outcomes, making it difficult for businesses to align themselves with a model that works for them.

This leads to arbitrary processes of ‘doing less bad’ or – worse – to opaque acts of greenwashing, which fail to create meaningful change.

What institutions need are insights and metrics which will guide them towards optimal solutions.

In response to this problem, and in collaboration with comparative text analytics platform Relative Insight, FuturePlus is proud to launch the first in a series of reports this week that, through a combination ESG insights, numerical scoring and text analysis, begin to highlight key areas where businesses can take steps to improve their sustainability.

The report ‘Analysing ESG: Revealing differing attitudes to sustainability through how we talk’, emphasises areas that companies can focus on to create resonance with both investors and the wider public.

Our research also demonstrates why firms need to rethink what comprises sustainability – and how seemingly disparate policy areas across different business functions must be interconnected to chart a path to greater sustainability.