Our latest thought leadership and research aims to inform and equip decision makers across business, finance and policy to lay the foundations for a sustainable economy.
June 2017 – The launch of the Natural Capital Protocol has led businesses to become more aware of their impacts and dependencies upon the natural environment. However, a need has been identified to link to commercial drivers to these impacts and dependencies across businesses. Simple metrics and key performance indicators that relate these two could be a next step to embedding natural capital into business operations and strategies. This working paper sets out the outcomes of a small piece of qualitative research. It explores the use of different metrics for standard business processes by sustainability professionals and their relationship to natural capital measures.
May 2017 – Investors and companies want to demonstrate their positive impacts on natural capital and show they are reversing the trend of natural environment degradation. The challenge is to identify metrics that are relevant for businesses’ decision-making processes, whilst being simple and practical for investors to use. This working paper outlines the concept for such metrics as developed by members of the Natural Capital Impact Group. It explores how the metric can be categorised as impacts upon the quality and quantity of soil, water and biodiversity. The paper explains the simple methodology that can be applied for business to calculate their impacts consistently and comparably, focusing particularly on the biodiversity component of this metric (soil and water components will be described in separate papers).
The City Innovation Platform: A guide to multi-sector collaboration on resilience
May 2017 – This guide looks at the City Innovation Platform (CIP), a two-day workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 2016. The CIP explored how the public and private sectors can collaborate more effectively to deliver sustainable, financeable and insurable infrastructure projects. The workshop involved the active participation from a city network of senior Dar city officials, the insurance industry, asset managers and the private sector.
May 2017 – Opportunities exist for investors and companies to demonstrate positive impacts and show they are reversing the trend of natural capital degradation. This working paper explores the challenges with identifying metrics that are relevant for businesses’ decision-making processes, whilst being simple and practical for investors to use. It is concluded that there is a lack of comprehensive, commonly accepted metrics that can be used by business and investors to consistently demonstrate their impact upon natural capital. CISL are working with a group of investors and multinational companies to explore and develop these metrics in response to this gap. This working paper represents the first output from CISL led research.
21st century energy: Business reflections on renewables in Europe
April 2017 – This report brings together business stories and interviews with companies with an interest in renewable energy. It focuses on EU policies on renewable energy and industry’s role in innovating to deliver it.
Resilience in commercial forestry: Doing business with nature
March 2017 – A new Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership report presents the case for natural resources to be better considered in commercial forestry decision-making processes.
UK Industrial Strategy: Navigating a changing world
20 January 2017 – This discussion paper has been commissioned by The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group to inform the development of an industrial strategy fit for the 21st century.
February 2017 – This 2017 trends briefing from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) highlights the key developments that business leaders need to anticipate and respond to.
December 2016 – This new report from CISL provides a framework for business leaders, to help them incorporate considerations of justice into their decision-making and interactions with stakeholders and policymakers as they embrace the changes that will be required in a new global economy.
Nexus2020: The most important research questions for business sustainability
8 December 2016 – A new report, which is the result of a unique collaboration between business and academia, highlights the most important questions for businesses around the sustainable management of food, energy, water and the environment.
