Session Description:

Businesses make decisions that have impacts on various forms of capitals (natural, social, human and produced). Such decisions are often made based on valuation, i.e., relying on value factors that help to determine trade-offs between capitals, and inherited pros and cons of a particular way forward.

Impact Valuation, an effort to provide an objective and quantitative measurement of the magnitude of the positive and negative impacts of businesses, has increasingly been used to evaluate and compare how business decision-making affects the environment and society.  Impact valuation demands an understanding of multiple values – and careful consideration of what, why, and to whom such values matter. As such, it is a challenging task, especially for impacts that fall outside the scope of traditional measurement approaches, which struggle to capture incommensurability of different, non-Western, forms of value. Yet, when evaluating impacts of business, considering such diversity in value perspectives will result in more transparent, accountable, better informed, and more sustainable decisions.

This session focuses on current practices and challenges of embracing diverse value perspectives in impact valuations. It will explore the importance of acknowledging and incorporating diverse values of nature, and particularly those of people directly or indirectly affected by business decision-making. Initial learnings from ongoing research and dialogue with impact valuation practitioners will be shared. The rationale, successes, nuances, and challenges associated with incorporating diverse perspectives will be addressed by a panel of experts. The session will further explore opportunities to embed diverse values for transformative decision-making that achieves more sustainable and equitable outcomes for society in the long term.

Running Order:

The session will begin with a brief context/background on the recognition of the need for integrating diverse perspectives of value into business decision-making, as per the work of the Capitals Coalition-led Value Commission. This will be followed by key findings from ongoing research with practitioners around the world, highlighting the state of play and challenges associated with impact valuation. Next, we will have an open dialogue with experts, representatives from local communities, business leaders, and the audience who will share their experiences and insights. The session will conclude with a synthesis of discussion highlights, proposed next steps to improve the practice, and ways to get involved in this research.