Better Signals With Less Noise
ASBN & SEE Commend UNRISD’s Alternative ESG” Manual Release

Media Release

Joint Press Release – Washington, D.C. & Brussels – for Wednesday, November 2nd/2022

Media Contacts: 

Attachments:

  • Tuesday, November 1st, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD – https://www.unrisd.org/en) press release 
  • United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) SPDI manual – Sustainable Development Performance Indicators (SPDIs)  – as “Alternative ESG”
  • UNRISD – Press Conference: Authentic Sustainability Assessment - https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1u/k1udq5jmo4

The American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) and Social Economy Europe (SEE) congratulate the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) on yesterday’s benchmark announcement of the Sustainable Development Performance Indicators (SPDIs) manual as “Alternative ESG”.

 

Joining forces, ASBN, SEE and UNRISD are launching “Own The Metrics”, a global Social and Solidarity Economy campaign  convening sustainable Human and Social Capital assets and metrics in  2022, with an all-hands, global stakeholder event planned for Q3/Q4 2023.  The UNRISD manual on Sustainable Development Performance Indicators (SPDIs)  - as “Alternative ESG”  – constitutes the framing campaign toolbox.

 

David Levine, ASBN President: “‘Alternative ESG’ as a fortifying roadmap offers ‘better signals with less noise’, marking the SEE/ASBN Permanent Global Business Dialogue and Collaboration partnership begun in December 2020 on the contribution of social economy enterprises and sustainable businesses to the UN 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (https://www.asbcouncil.org/media-release/social-economy-europe-and-american-sustainable-business-council-mark-fifth-anniversary). The UNRISD manual will help transcend ESG greenwashing and virtue signaling by offering more inclusive and relevant standards and metrics for business and social economy networks, institutional standard-setters and regulators, consulting firms, investment firms, multilateral actors, and civil societies intending to drive credible climate resiliency, sustainability and healing social transformation.” 

 

Victor Meseguer, Director of Social Economy Europe: “Timing could not be better one week before COP 27 (https://unfccc.int/cop27) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, one month before COP 15 (https://www.unep.org/events/conference/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15) in Montreal, and with San Sebastian as 2023 Social Economy Capital (https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/trabajo14/Paginas/2022/281022-donosti-capital-economia-social-2023.aspx) including leadership from the Mondragon cooperative ecosystem helping to conceive and launch “Own the Metrics” since its inception. Also, the European Union is currently re-opening the reflection on sustainable finance and on a taxonomy of social investments, which has the potential to become a global standard for social and sustainable investments.” 

 

Ilcheong Yi, UNRISD Senior Research Coordinator, Alternative Economies for Transformation Programme & Transformative Social Policy Programme: “The 2022-2023 ‘Own The Metrics’ campaign ‘convenes the conveners’ to build consensus on an alternative ESG approach to KPIs (key performance indicators), metrics and standards that sheds light on neglected human and social dimensions and prepares for the 2023 convention. The Campaign develops mutualist and inclusive momentum on designing an alternative approach to SSE sustainability reporting focusing on defining metrics to guide investor-driven profitable capital allocation for the common good.  The mission targets building collective, cooperative and mutualist voice and agency for development and promotion of sustainability measures, indicators, metrics and standards from the social solidarity economy perspective. The goal is to ensure that this perspective is omnipresent and helps drive all national, regional, multinational and international global forums making decisions about sustainability indicators.” 

 

Further supporting UNRISD’s “Alternative ESG” manual,  ASBN’s ongoing Corporate Transparency & ESG Disclosure working group (https://www.asbnetwork.org/corporate-transparency-and-esg-disclosure) focuses on “ policy solutions and other interventions which incentivize the method of True-Cost Accounting or sometimes known as Impact Weighted Accounts. Currently, we believe that policy incentives and or requirements must include considerations of current GAAP standards, regulatory intervention, accounting standards, valuation methodologies, ESG investment criteria, related reporting methods, tax regime reform and an overall increase in transparency and equity in corporate and business governance… ESG standards are a critical tool to use in creating a more just society and economy.”  

 

Setting fair trade disclosure standards will have a huge impact on how transparency is practiced, benefitting future generations. This process will include a bottom-to-top reevaluation of social and environmental impact together with how governance practices most acutely impact frontline, underserved communities, disable systemic racism and poverty, and enable Planet Earth’s resiliency capacity to regenerate.

 

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ABOUT ASBN (https://www.asbnetwork.org/): American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) is a movement builder in partnership with the business and investor community. ASBN develops and advocates solutions for policymakers, business leaders, and investors that support an equitable, regenerative, and just economy that benefits all⁠ – people and planet. As a multi-issue, membership organization advocating on behalf of every business sector, size, and geography, ASBN and its association members collectively represent over 250,000 businesses across our networks. ASBN was founded through the merger of the American Sustainable Business Council and Social Venture Circle.

ABOUT SEE (https://www.socialeconomy.eu.org/): Social Economy Europe (SEE) is the voice of 2.8 million social economy enterprises and organizations in the European Union, employing 13.6 million people and accounting for 8% of the EU’s GDP. SEE has been a catalyst for new key initiatives, most notably the renewal of the European Parliament’s Social Economy Intergroup with the backing of over 80 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and for the European Union’s Social Economy Action Plan,  a European public policy with a 2030 horizon, more than 40 actions and the ambition to mobilize 2.5 billion euros in funding an investments into the social economy until 2027. SEE is the organization representing the collective interests of all social economy actors as cooperatives, mutuals, associations (including charities), foundations and social enterprises. 

Relationship Background: Social Economy Europe (SEE - https://www.socialeconomy.eu.org/) and American Sustainable Business Council  (now ASBN – https://www.asbnetwork.org/) Announce Global Collaboration to Mark 5th Anniversary of Paris Accord:

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