Earth Day Teach In

By Anonymous -

"You Can't Manage What You Can't Measure"


 There are many things that can be measured in our daily lives: household budget; gas spending; average weekday miles traveled; number of crimes per county; and the list could go on. However, how are these measurements relevant and how/what do they add to our social, economic, and natural performance? Unless you measure something, you don't know if it is getting better or worse. How do we know what we need to meet our needs today and in the future? We need to know what we have, what we consume, what resources are available, and what can be regenerated or replaced. To walk the sustainability path, it is essential to accurately measure and estimate the natural, social, and economic assets we have.

Take, for example, a company that wants to increase its profitability. The goal is set. The next step is to know a starting point to achieve these goals. Given that sustainability is becoming increasingly important for companies, a sustainability report is often the first element provided for a sustainability business case. It must therefore bring a clear message backed up with data to track and assess the progress of the company. The data collected will represent an analysis of the sustainability performance of the company, and will help building its credibility not only among stakeholders, but also consumers who will trust the goals. In addition, the budget is a tangible example of how the use of measurements can help companies to achieve their goals. Reporting tools such as Global Reporting Index and Bloomberg provide businesses data points and help develop benchmark techniques.

 Measuring sustainability is important but it is complex. Sustainability tools and indicators differ from one country to another. For example, to measure green buildings, Green Star is used in Australia, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is used in the United States, and the Green Building Index (GBI)is used in Malaysia (see different measurement tools).


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