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We’ve had single, double, dynamic and nested materiality – now there’s a new one: triple materiality. Based on lectures I give at the University of Cambridge and Imperial College in London, here’s everything you need to know about the new idea of triple materiality. Triple Materiality: What Is It? Materiality is about measuring, managing and… Continue reading What is Triple Materiality?

EFRAG has published a new batch of draft standards that are particularly interesting. As a reminder, EFRAG is giving technical advice to the European Commission in the form of draft EU Sustainability Reporting Standards. As part of a drive to strengthen rules introduced by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive, the Commission has a proposal for a… Continue reading New European Standards: A Challenge for Business

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) published a recent update that nearly had me falling off my chair. New global sustainability standards had been due to focus on topics “to assess enterprise value”. Following feedback, this objective sounds like it’s being ditched. The meaning will be “redeliberated” they say. Does this mean ISSB is embracing… Continue reading IFSR drops “enterprise value”

Should ESG be split up into two parts: one focused on risk assessment and another on creating an impact on the world? This is the suggestion in a fascinating article by Stuart Kirk. Kirk found fame in May when he made some provocative remarks about ESG. As head of responsible investment at HSBC, he told… Continue reading ESG: Split it in two?

Do you lie awake at night worrying that a journalist might fly halfway around the world and dig up some embarrassing scandal about your business? If so, it’s time to retire. The digital revolution means that corporate responsibility professionals will soon have a much more disruptive reality to contend with. Today, over 2.7 billion people… Continue reading The Hyper-Transparent Future for Responsible Business

Fear of failure risks stalling the momentum on progressing the sustainability agenda. Businesses should embrace a more honest and transparent approach to enable others to learn from their mistakes Why do companies fear failure? Or rather, why do so few in the world of responsible business want to talk about it? We rarely hear of… Continue reading Celebrating Failure in Sustainability

What’s the business case for sustainability? It all comes down to costs, revenues, now and in the future. But first, it’s crucial to understand the difference between the moral and the commercial case.

What we can learn from the VW Emissions Scandal On Friday, Sept. 11, 2015, a press officer in Wolfsburg, Germany, sent on an announcement to the world’s media. “The Volkswagen Group has again been listed as the most sustainable automaker in the world’s leading sustainability ranking,” it read. Martin Winterkorn, the chairman, commended “the entire… Continue reading VW Emissions & Responsible Business

Is it better to set a target that you might miss, or never to commit to the goal in the first place? This question vexes companies around the world, not least in Singapore where I recently visited as part of a series of events to open Corporate Citizenship’s new office. In an age of big,… Continue reading Missing Targets and Saving Face: Lessons from Singapore