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Sustainability Performance Indicators, SPI
 Companies
usually collect and deal with lots of environmental, economic and social
information. The challenge is to condense this large amount of information into
a limited number of key indicators, so that the company can measure its
performance and take decisions about further progress. An SPI is a tool that can be used for
this purpose. SPIs can be grouped in three areas covering either the economic ,
environmental (EPI) or social dimension of sustainability. For reporting of all
these three dimensions see
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The DANTES
project
mainly deals with EPIs. A short description of the three groups of SPIs are given
below:
Economic performance indicators encompass all aspects of an
organization’s economic interactions and focus on how the economic status of
the stakeholders changes as a consequence of the organization’s activities.
For example, indicators such as company turnover, profit, and amount of products
sold can be used. Economic accounting and reporting is a well established area
and data for calculating economic performance indicators can be retrieved from
your financial/economic department.
Social performance indicators concern an organization’s
impacts on the social systems within which it operates, e.g. labor practices,
human rights, and broader issues affecting consumers, community, and other
stakeholders in society. Data for calculating social performance indicators can
be retrieved from e.g. the human resource department and the safety and
occupational health department.
Environmental performance indicators (EPI) concern an
organization’s impacts on living and non-living natural systems, including
ecosystems, land, air and water. For example indicators such as greenhouse gas
emissions, water consumption and waste output can be used. EPIs may help to
identify the most significant environmental impacts, clarify and communicate
companies’ environmental goals and progress to employees and stakeholders.
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