Gaining understanding of the use of sustainability KPIs in practice

摘要

It is uncertain whether the use of sustainability KPIs leads toperformance improvement. Surveys followed by interviewswith practitioners were used to investigate sustainability KPIsin manufacturing. It was found that:1. Surveyed companies are not sure whether sustainabilityKPIs are leading to performance improvement. Choosingappropriate boundaries and metrics will greatly influenceactivities and improvement.2. It is difficult to make trade-offs between social, economicand environmental metrics, because all are important. Incertain situations we may need to consider one metric morethan others. Social metrics may be difficult to measure, butare of increasing interest to government and industry.3. Measurement and control of impacts outside of direct scopeare of concern. Some companies in our initial survey considerthemselves either too small (insufficient bargainingpower) or too large (too many suppliers or customers, complexity)to manage this effectively.4. Leaders are looking beyond the metrics they have used inthe past but require support from outside of industry. Forinstance, companies may want to move from the ethos "zerowaste to landfill" to "resource efficiency", but do not knowhow to measure and compare these different approaches.Start-ups or "sustainability followers" may want to begin byusing the best measurement available.5. There are opportunities in both internal and external sustainabilityreporting. Companies may not always measurewhat is needed, or make use of their own metrics to improveexternal communications.6. Learning within the company between different sites is importantbut may be difficult because of differences in energymanagement systems, geographical areas, age of equipment,personnel expertise and other factors. Also, the politics ofinter-site competition may be a barrier.7. Future research requires a deeper understanding of the designof sustainability KPIs and the performance managementsystems needed to deliver improvement.