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WifOR Institute and the Value Balancing Alliance published new benchmarks that identify the most significant social and environmental impacts across global industries. These insights enable policymakers to enhance regulatory frameworks and help businesses integrate sustainability into their strategic decision-making.
The reports cover:
• Sector Benchmarks, classified according to SICS®, spanning 11 sectors worldwide.
• Industry Benchmarks, based on the NACE classification, covering 18 industries across 20 countries.
Enabling Effective Policy and Business Decisions
The benchmark reports transform sustainability data into actionable insights, enabling businesses to assess their competitive position beyond financial performance – encompassing environmental and social dimensions. By integrating these impacts into their strategies, companies can identify competitive advantages, attract long-term investors, strengthen stakeholder trust, and mitigate sustainability-related risks.
However, certain sustainability challenges – such as carbon-intensive raw materials or sector-wide supply chain issues – require intervention beyond individual corporate action. Policymakers can support industries by improving framework conditions, enhancing infrastructure, and fostering innovation through targeted investments and financial incentives to drive collective progress. Using the benchmarks, policymakers can pinpoint industries where measures can drive the greatest impact.
Prof. Dennis A. Ostwald, CEO of WifOR Institute, emphasizes the significance of the benchmarks:
“Targeted sustainability measures require a clear understanding of where action is most needed. By providing comparable impact metrics, these benchmarks allow governments to strengthen policy frameworks and businesses to integrate sustainability into strategic decision-making.”
Christian Heller, CEO of the Value Balancing Alliance, highlights:
“These benchmarks are groundbreaking to drive sustainable value creation and the transformation of business models, industry sectors, and economies. For the first time, companies and their stakeholders can easily assess if they are outperforming their sector and identify the material impacts within an industry.”
Example: How These Benchmarks Work in Practice
The benchmarks are expressed as Impact Intensities, representing the average social and environmental footprint of industries in different countries relative to their revenue. Using WifOR Institute’s Value Factors, these impacts are quantified in monetary terms (€ of impact per € of revenue). This standardization enables businesses to integrate societal impact into their decision-making and identify areas for improvement.
An example from the Consumer Goods sector in Australia demonstrates how benchmarks provide insights into environmental impact at both corporate and national levels. The sector’s Impact Intensity for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is €-0.049 per €1 of revenue. In other words, for every €1,000 in revenue, the total environmental cost of GHG emissions amounts to approximately €49. However, these emissions are distributed across the value chain:
• €-6.98 originates from a company’s own operations,
• €-16.04 is generated by direct suppliers,
• €-10.20 comes from suppliers’ suppliers, and
• €-15.77 is linked to the broader global supply chain.
This data highlights that the majority of emissions stem from the upstream supply chain rather than direct company operations. For policymakers, this underscores the importance of addressing supply chain emissions through incentives or regulatory measures, such as supplier-focused sustainability initiatives or enhanced carbon reporting requirements.
For businesses, these benchmarks serve as a reference point for evaluating sustainability performance. A company with a GHG intensity below the sector benchmark demonstrates a smaller environmental footprint relative to other players in the industry. Conversely, companies exceeding the benchmark may need to implement targeted measures – such as optimizing supply chains or investing in emissions reduction strategies – to improve their sustainability standing.
By integrating these insights into strategic decision-making, both governments and businesses can take more effective steps to reduce environmental impact while maintaining economic competitiveness.
A Framework for Sustainable Economic Growth
Benchmarks contribute to a more stable and future-proof economic environment:
• Governments can enhance framework conditions that help businesses reduce negative impacts while fostering innovation.
• Businesses can integrate sustainability into decision-making, improving risk management and securing long-term profitability.
• Investors and stakeholders gain greater transparency, leading to more informed decision-making and stronger accountability.
About WifOR Institute
WifOR is an independent economic research institute, founded in 2009 as a spin-off from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany. As experts in macroeconomic analysis, WifOR's research focuses on labor markets, health, and sustainability. Through its studies, the institute aims to enable data-based solutions to labor market challenges, set global standards in impact measurement, and highlight the value of health investments worldwide. WifOR has over 75 employees in Germany, Greece, Latin America, and the USA.
About Value Balancing Alliance
The Value Balancing Alliance is a non-profit organization committed to transforming corporate sustainability by developing globally recognized standards for measuring and reporting environmental, social, and economic impacts. The members include leading companies from various sectors, all working together to create a transparent and sustainable future. More than 25 international companies are member of the Alliance contributing to its success. As a non-profit organization, it enjoys pro-bono assistance by Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, and partners and engages with various institutions incl. the WEF, OECD, EU, WBCSD, GRI, IFRS, ISSB, EFRAG, Capitals Coalition, and experts in the impact accounting space.
Dr. Richard Scholz
Head of Impact Analysis WifOR Institute
richard.scholz@wifor.com
For a detailed breakdown of country and sector benchmarks, visit: https://www.wifor.com/en/benchmarks/
https://www.wifor.com/en/value-factors/ - WifOR Institute’s Value Factors 2.0
Prof. Dennis A. Ostwald, CEO WifOR Institute
WifOR Institute
Christian Heller, CEO Value Balancing Alliance
Value Balancing Alliance
Example from the Consumer Goods sector in Australia
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Prof. Dennis A. Ostwald, CEO WifOR Institute
WifOR Institute
Christian Heller, CEO Value Balancing Alliance
Value Balancing Alliance
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