Joint Press Release – Washington, D.C. & Brussels – for Wednesday, November 2nd/2022
Social Economy Europe (SEE) and the American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) 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.
Further supporting UNRISD’s “Alternative ESG” manual, ASBN’s ongoing Corporate Transparency & ESG Disclosure working group 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 re-evaluation 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: 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: Social Economy Europe (SEE) is the voice of 2.8 million social economy enterprises and organisations 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 of 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 investment 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.
Media Contacts:
–Aleta Edwards, Senior Manager, Communications and Storytelling American Sustainable Business Network aleta@asbnetwork.org – https://www.asbnetwork.org/
–Victor Meseguer, Director of Social Economy Europe – director@socialeconomy.eu.org https://www.socialeconomy.eu.org/
Attachments:
-Tuesday, November 1st, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD – https://www.unrisd.org/en) press release
