Why social impact must be accounted for like climate and nature 

Understanding and improving how companies measure and manage social impact has become a growing priority for corporate sustainability leaders. Around the world, senior practitioners are exploring how to better link societal outcomes to business performance and accountability.

Drawing on its expertise in this area, Business for Societal Impact (B4SI) has been called upon to contribute through global platforms and alliances — most recently via the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Social Performance & Accountability (SP&A [1]) working groups. We led masterclasses that convened global corporate representatives to share practical insights and approaches to measuring and managing social impact.

It’s no surprise this agenda is gaining traction. Globally, we see tailwinds such as new disclosure requirements, investor demand for transparent social data, and rising stakeholder expectations. At the same time, headwinds such as inequality, societal polarisation, and the Just Transition are pushing companies to demonstrate resilience through credible impact management. Together, these forces are driving what we call rational sustainability: an era where proof of value and impact is essential.

The data imperative:

Measuring impact matters

The real differentiator is not simply what companies invest in, but how they measure, manage, and connect impact to strategy. A strong framework helps businesses to:

• Build trust and strengthen social licence by demonstrating outcomes to stakeholders – from communities to the C-Suite.
• Enable data-driven decision making, improving effectiveness and driving innovation.
• Reinforce the internal business case, showing how impact delivers value both to society and the business.
• Stay ahead of disclosure expectations, including TISFD and TNFD, and protect access to capital by demonstrating robust management of social risks.

As highlighted in the masterclasses, proof of impact is not a soft issue. It can mean the difference between securing or losing a contract, maintaining market access, or lowering your cost of capital. Impact measurement strengthens resilience, convinces boards to sustain investment, and equips companies to pivot rapidly when unforeseen social risks emerge.

Breaking through common barriers

The discussions revealed familiar hurdles, such as limited resources and expertise, confusion caused by too many competing methodologies, and uncertainty about which metrics matter most. And above all, concerns that contributions may not be “big enough” to measure. Part of the hesitation comes from the sheer volume of impact measurement approaches available — from socio-economic impact studies to proprietary models. While all add value, this fragmentation can paralyse action.

Our experts have developed a framework [2] that cuts through this complexity. It offers a consistent, global standard that translates technical concepts into business-relevant data, enabling companies to start where they are and scale with confidence.

Bridging the business case gap

A consistent insight from the WBCSD sessions was the disconnect between social initiatives and business outcomes. Too often, programmes are assessed in isolation, missing their contribution to employee engagement, brand reputation, innovation, or market access.

Participants reflected on examples of companies that are:

• Leveraging youth employability programmes not only to support communities, but also to enhance employee pride and retention.
• Embedding impact assessment into global strategies to strengthen stakeholder trust and quantify links between social and corporate value.
• Tying purpose-led programmes directly to innovation outcomes and resilience planning.

Benchmarking insights reinforce this point. While many companies now report outputs and impacts, only about a quarter report business impacts. Yet these are the data points that resonate most with CFOs, boards, and investors. Connecting purpose with performance turns social investment into a strategic asset.

Expanding the lens

Impact does not exist in a silo. It is deeply interconnected with environmental and economic factors. Participants highlighted the growing recognition that social risks can escalate more rapidly than environmental ones – COVID-19 being a case in point. As shared by our colleagues earlier in the Digest, conversations throughout Climate Week in New York reaffirmed the importance of integrating people and nature into decision-making, ensuring that climate solutions deliver shared value for communities, employees and society at large.

The Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD) is now building the same kind of architecture for social issues that the TCFD created for climate and the TNFD created for nature, underscoring the urgency of integrated measurement. To support these needs within our clients and partners’ base, B4SI’s latest expansion includes Natural Capital Indicators to measure biodiversity and community outcomes together.

Our approach and evidence of value

The B4SI Framework spans three opportunity areas: community investment, business innovation, and social procurement. It connects inputs to outputs to impacts: measuring effects on both society and business (and now also nature!).

It also recognises different maturity levels:

• Early-stage companies may focus on charitable giving, but often lack outcome data.
• Intermediate companies begin to align their impact with business priorities, incorporating social procurement and innovation initiatives.
• Advanced companies integrate impact across the enterprise, with robust systems and a shared value approach.

As maturity increases, benefits become tangible: more resilient supply chains, higher employee engagement, faster innovation cycles, and stronger investor confidence.

External data underscores the case. The Charities Aid Foundation’s (CAF) Corporate Giving Report shows that companies aligned with our framework report significantly higher levels of giving and impact outcomes compared to FTSE 100 averages. This is proof that structured, outcomefocused measurement amplifies both societal and business value.

“Being part of B4SI has given Kingfisher the ability to benchmark against other companies. It offers the ability to measure the outputs from our investment in communities, giving consistency in reporting and approach. We value being part of this network, which also connects us to wider work and initiatives.”

Sascha Chennell, Global Community Investment Lead at Kingfisher (CAF Corporate Giving Report, 2025) [3]

Don’t just invest in social impact. Measure it, manage it, and maximise it

The message from the WBCSD sessions was clear: proof of impact is no longer optional. For resilience, for growth, and for credibility with investors, regulators, and employees, it is essential.

The good news is that progress is possible from any starting point. With common definitions, robust measurement, and strategic alignment, companies can move beyond reporting inputs to demonstrating real change. Through its framework, impact toolkit, and global network, B4SI makes this transition practical and achievable. It empowers companies to measure outcomes with confidence, link social investment to business performance, and embed social impact into long-term strategy.

Advisory Digest

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References

[1] Social Performance & Accountability (SP&A) is a WBCSD-led Priority Action Area aiming to embed social performance and accountability as standard business practice. Its working group focuses on (1) advancing shared systems for integrating social and inequality factors into decisionmaking; (2) strengthening business readiness to embed social strategies across the 10 BCTI action agendas; and (3) collectively tracking and delivering progress through action.

[2] https://b4si.net/framework/

[3] https://www.cafonline.org/insights/ research/corporate-giving-report-2025