Measuring Sustainability Impacts | Leveraging the UN SDGs

Global | December 4, 2023
Reading Time : 4 mins

In today’s world, it is no longer enough for companies to gauge their success using financial metrics alone. Investors, regulators and consumers are all seeking a more comprehensive evaluation of corporate activities, including broader environmental and societal impacts.

However measuring sustainability impacts consistently and credibly is far from straightforward, especially for multinationals, professional services firms, and companies whose impacts cross multiple sectors.

How does a company with a sincere commitment to making the world a better place measure its sustainability impacts in a manner that is data-driven, credible and auditable? In this paper, WSP describes its multi-year quest to answer this question. It is a story we can all learn from.

Toby Heaps CEO, Corporate Knights

How the UN Sustainable Development Goals can help

This white paper provides a concise introduction to this emerging field, and the sustainable taxonomies being developed in many jurisdictions around the world, including the EU Taxonomy. We discuss how the UN Sustainable Development Goals can be used as a proxy to measure and communicate impacts that would otherwise be difficult to quantify, as well as to keep organizations aligned with sustainable growth objectives. As a practical illustration, we outline WSP’s own impact measurement journey since 2019, supported by Corporate Knights, from “green revenues” to “clean revenues” to “SDG-Linked Revenues”, which in 2022 accounted for 59.3% of our annualized gross revenues.

Download the white paper

In a nutshell, measuring sustainability impacts

Currently, there is no globally agreed methodology for measuring corporate sustainability impacts.
Calculating direct impacts across a large and diverse project portfolio is challenging for various reasons.
Impact can be measured in a way that is data-driven and credible.
Taxonomies that classify the sustainability of corporate activities are under development around the world – the EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities is among the most advanced and is set to become the most influential.
Applying taxonomies is challenging for professional services firms like WSP, because our greatest impacts are derived from the services we provide to clients. This means we do not have sole responsibility for the outcome, nor do we have access to the information required by sustainable taxonomies.
The UN SDGs offer a credible, robust way of quantifying a broad range of indirect sustainability impacts.
WSP has developed a methodology for quantifying SDG-Linked Revenues, based on the Corporate Knights Sustainable Economy Taxonomy and we help organizations around the world to develop and apply a range of sustainability metrics and taxonomies.

WHITE PAPER

Measuring the sustainability impacts of a global consulting firm

Download WSP’s guide to using the UN SDGs to measure sustainability impacts and align future growth.

Download the whitepaper

How does our work support the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

SDG 5 Gender equality / SDG 8 Decent work and economic growth

We are involved in two five-year programs in Nepal, funded by UKaid to promote access to finance and gender equality. By the end of 2020, our work had generated more than US$270 million in lending capital for SMEs and reached 2.4 million beneficiaries, including more than 1.2 million women.

SDG 6 Clean water and sanitation

We were enlisted to upgrade and increase the capacity of the Sainte-Angelique water treatment plant in Quebec, which reduces the natural iron and manganese content of the groundwater. Our studies and testing resulted in the selection of a chemical-free treatment and almost doubled water production capacity.

SDG 7 Affordable and clean energy

We are supporting the delivery of the EnergyConnect transmission line in Australia, which will accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

SDG 9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure

We helped SSAB Oxelösund, which operates of an iron and steel manufacturing plant in Oxelösund, Sweden, to prepare for a major transition from ore-based production to iron and scrap-based production using an electric arc furnace.

img-un-sdg-sustainable-cities-and-communities

SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities

We helped to improve services via the GO Expansion On-Corridor Works Project, which will create the capacity for two-way, all-day, 15-minute-interval service in transit corridors in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area.

SDG 12 Responsible consumption and production

We helped to deliver the first mass timber structure in Newcastle, New South Wales, resulting in 100% reduction in operational carbon, a92% reduction in whole-of-life carbon, and a 96% recycle rate during construction.

SDG 13 Climate action

We served as technical advisor to the City of Chicago, helping to develop its Climate Action Plan (CAP) for mitigating GHG emissions and targeting an 80% reduction by 2050.

SDG 14 Life below water

We are helping to build a series of stone reefs to protect and restore the marine environment in Køge Bay in Denmark, in response to deteriorating ecosystems and loss of biodiversity.

SDG 15 Life on land

We piloted and successfully implemented phytoremediation technology on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, to remediate soil contaminated with fumigants EDB and DBCP.

Other challenges that we have overcome

Køge, Denmark

Restoring vibrant marine life at Køge Bay

Construction of new stone reefs, concrete reefs, educational reefs, fish hotels, biohuts, and biogenic reefs will help restore biodiversity in Køge Bay.

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Working on Climate Action in Chicago

City’s new comprehensive plan sets ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions, advance equity and environmental justice, improve community health and resilience, and increase household savings.

New South Wales, Australia

Building the Future with Timber

We helped deliver Q Building – the first mass timber structure in Newcastle, and Regional NSW’s first 6 star rating as recognised by the Green Building Council of Australia.

Sweden

Paving the road to fossil-free steel and sheet metal manufacturing

SSAB Oxelösund is currently engaged in transitioning to fossil-free steel and sheet metal production, a process that includes the installation of an electric arc furnace.

Australia

Supporting the Growth of Renewable Energy

Essential to ensuring security and reliability of the grid to support increasing renewable energy connections, the new EnergyConnect transmission line will link New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria and would assist in transporting energy from the South-West Renewable Energy Zone to major demand centres.