Can measuring and valuing the impact of business on society and the planet lead to a more environmentally and socially oriented style of capitalism? This is the main hope and assertion of corporate environmental and social impact measurement and valuation (IMV), which calls on organizations to measure their positive and negative impacts on their stakeholders and the environment and to subsequently translate them into monetary units. This curated dialog critically examines the components of this concept—environmental and social impact, its measurement, and its monetary valuation—by bringing together leading experts in the field who discuss the opportunities and risks of IMV. The purpose of this article is to place IMV under deep investigation and envision new ways that work with, complement, or replace organizations’ desire for management via quantification and financialization.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/10564926251330815
Flooding from torrential rains recently led Vermonters to kayak through the streets of the state capital. A month later, Hawaiians were forced to flee to the ocean to avoid devastating blazes. All the while, toxic smoke from wildfires has imperiled the health of Americans across huge swaths of the country. All these alarming environmental developments hurt economic activity. Yet many political leaders seem preoccupied with banning investors from considering the impacts of the fast-changing environment on business.
