We asked 10 companies that have gone all in on total impact valuation (AkzoNobel, Argos, BASF, LANXESS, Linde plc, Novartis, SGS, The Crown Estate, The Travel Foundation, and UPM) whether and how the practice was generating value for them. They told us that, used strategically, total impact valuation could potentially unlock business opportunities and uncover risks. But for now, lack of a standard approach is making it difficult to base business decisions on the valuation results.

Total impact valuation—the practice of quantifying and expressing in financial terms a company’s economic, social, and environmental impacts—is an attempt by organizations to convey the full extent of their impacts on society beyond those captured in traditional financial statements. The first phase of our research on this topic revealed the many complexities of this practice, but it also confirmed that, once refined, impact valuation has the potential to play an important role in the future of company reporting. For organizations looking to anticipate what’s ahead, the potential of impact valuation to redefine how they approach value creation is very compelling.

For this, our second phase of the initiative, we administered a written survey and then interviewed 10 companies that are deeply involved in this practice to distill insights and uncover how total impact valuation generates value for them and how it is received by their stakeholders.

Our 10 participants were:

AKZONOBEL

ARGOS

BASF

LANXESS

LINDE PLC

NOVARTIS

SGS

THE CROWN ESTATE

THE TRAVEL FOUNDATION

UPM