New digital tool measures sustainability
All businesses should have access to tools that follow up and measure the result of their efforts. Technical consultants at AFRY have developed an IT tool that not only collects sustainability data in one place, but also measures the true sustainability performance of a business or a project.
The tool, Sustainable Business Performance Indicators, SBPI, is a measurement model that provides a factual answer to the question of how sustainable a company actually is. With over 20 financial parameters and 2,500 social and environmental aspects, every business/segment must start by performing a materiality analysis of which parameters are important for their business and thereby for the business’s sustainability performance.
SBPI - a correct way to measure sustainability
The demands for more sustainable business performance are becoming increasingly tough, which means that new needs arise to systematically measure and follow up on sustainability work. More and more stakeholders are asking for sustainability data, but many businesses do not have the tools to track this. SBPI is a digital instrument that provides a simple means of tracking data and measuring sustainability performance in a scientific way.
Sustainability is a complex entity that with its three dimensions – social, economic and environmental – is difficult to measure. The concept includes both quantitative variables, such as carbon dioxide emissions and gender distribution, and qualitative values, such as customer satisfaction and perceived working environment. To be able to aim towards defined goals and to monitor results over time, it is important to measure.
Fully digital measurement method
SBPI is based on soft metrology and traditional measurement technology core values, making the measurement values comparable over time. By measuring sustainability performance using objective, comparable and repeatable measurement methods, sustainability work can be targeted towards defined goals. SBPI has been developed by AFRY’s specialists in the fields of compliance, sustainability, product development and digitisation, in close collaboration with the measurement technology department at RISE, the Research Institutes of Sweden. The result is a web-based platform with a digital measurement model that collects data, performs calculations, analyses and visualises the measurement results in a user-friendly way for customers, employees and the general public to study.
Applicable to different sectors and businesses
SBPI makes it possible to follow up on sustainability performance at both a general level and a detailed level. The model also visualises the correlation between different activities and how they contribute to sustainability performance. SBPI contributes to securing the link between sustainability work and business strategy. The model can be used to good effect to follow up on suppliers’ sustainability performance and or to measure the impact of individual projects on the environment.
AFRY’s sustainability work is defined in SBPI on the basis of AFRY’s three focus areas: to conduct responsible business, to be an attractive employer and always to offer sustainable solutions. The analysis produces a value that indicates total sustainability performance on a scale of 0 to 100, with the value of 100 representing a utopia. The first measurement of AFRY’s sustainability performance using SBPI was performed for the business year 2016 and produced a value of 59 out of 100.
