Imagine being able to hang out with leading luminaries for an intimate learning experience and ask them exactly how they pushed the learning edges of the field. In this course, you get to have those conversations. You’ll get numerous revelations about the movement to amplify organizational systems thinking and reporting, helping you to develop a vivid sense of where learning and implementation frontiers are. The content is fantastic.

There is a jungle of frameworks and heaps of measurements (e.g. have a look at the long list of #GRI), and more are on their way. But are they helping us understand sustainable actions on a tangible level? I argue that the best tool available is the UNSDPI (UN Sustainable Development Performance Indicators).

If you are a big or a small company, an #investor, #familyoffice or just someone interested in making a #positiveimpact on climate, carbon and the broader S and G sustainability issues, I recommend quickly booking the r3.0 & Center for Sustainable Organizations training. Over the next decade, this is the way we will measure and report the sustainability performance of a company, asset or portfolio. Demand for this training will go through the roof. For me, it is the most significant contribution of any entity proposing standards, frameworks etc., for sustainable reporting and finance.

Bill, Mark and Ralph delivered the UNSDPI training very professionally. The materials serve as a helpful reference to signpost learning already conquered or yet to be embraced. Q&A in the chat stream were invited and embraced throughout the four modules. The talent in the room speaks to the significance of the training. Well done to r3.0 and CSO for the milestones met and obstacles overcome to integrate context-based sustainability into the UN SDPIs.

I found UNSDPI to be the most comprehensive framework currently available for companies and organisations who are sincere about transforming business-as-usual. The UNSDPIs are the antidote to both SDG-washing and greenwashing and provide a way out of endless incrementalism and enable real action on sustainability transformation.

The Sustainable Development Performance Indicators (SDPI) constitute an advance in sustainability performance measurement — and ultimately reporting — in that their methodology in essence normalizes performance measures using context-based materiality factors. This results in measures that readily indicate whether a company is performing sustainably relative to an established desirable or target threshold that is context-specific. It facilitates assessing performance on a number of critical issues by enabling users to determine which companies are behaving sustainably and which are not. This is definitely the direction of travel in driving companies to truly integrate sustainability into their business model and strategy.

The launch of the UNSDPIs – a first-of-its-kind, UN-backed sustainability reporting instrument that incorporates 16 context-based performance indicators and further transformative disclosures – is a true pivotal moment in sustainability reporting. Sadly, the most widely adopted GRI standards, the ESRS newly mandatory in the EU, as well as the ubiquitous SDGs, are all laden in incrementalism – they are not helping us create a system that thrives within planetary boundaries while granting all fellow citizens of the world the dignity of respecting all social foundations (thriving within our means, not at someone else’s cost). Context-based sustainability is a viable and necessary science-aligned alternative, and thanks to the SDPI’s advent is now actionable for companies. The UNSDPI training delivered familiarization with foundational concepts of science-aligned sustainability; understanding of the crux of novel, context-based SDPI indicators; enrichment with explanations on context-based materiality assessment; and a demonstration of how to apply the indicators using an integrated reporting scorecard (allowing for aggregation into a big picture). It also provided the opportunity to engage directly with and questions to the UNSDPI’s co-creators, – as well as to broaden one’s horizons through critical questions asked by fellow participants from diverse backgrounds and with varying roles in non-financial disclosures and performance management.

The UNSPDIs will be most useful to me in framing and articulating what a sustainable business looks like, and as I am responsible for regulatory and investor reporting, helping to draw the distinction between the actions we take as a responsible business and what we would actually need to do to be truly sustainable. It’s an uphill battle to close that gap, but tools like this make it easier. To that end, I will also be diving into the treasure trove that is your r3.0 website! 

Bill Baue, Mark McElroy, and Ralph Thurm: I can’t believe the extent to which the three of you opened my eyes to authentic sustainability performance. The deep dives and the extensive conversation with Q&A was excellent. I wanted to keep going! Great work. Thank you! 

In my quest to acquire the most comprehensive knowledge in sustainability reporting and accounting, I sought more than just getting a certification. I aspired for something that aligned with the highest scientific and ethical standards. Fortunately, I discovered just that in the UNSDPI Training of r3.0 and CSO, and much more in the way the training was provided by Ralph, Bill, and Mark. Their unwavering dedication to revolutionizing the current state of the sustainability reporting landscape is truly inspiring, as well as the group of professionals I trained alongside with. After two days of intensive training and Q&A, I am more confident than ever in my ability to apply my skillset to serve the planet and its inhabitants.