Together with seven other companies of the recently founded value balancing alliance e. V., based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, BASF intends to develop a standard to makes the value creation of companies for society measurable and comparable in environmental, human, social, and financial terms.
The alliance is supported by the accounting firms Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC and by the OECD amongst others. The founding members of the non-profit organisation are BASF, Bosch, Deutsche Bank, LafargeHolcim, Novartis, Philip Morris International, SAP, and SK.
“It is about changing the perspective on how companies create value,” said Saori Dubourg, Member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. “With a holistic view on values, we want to take into account our impacts on the environment, society and businesses. Creating long-term values is the foundation for sustainable business success.”
The objective of the alliance is to create and pilot a model for the calculation of the multidimensional value contribution and to further develop the disclosing and reporting obligations accordingly within the next three years. “In the alliance, we want to standardise the different approaches that are currently used by the companies to make the results comparable. In this way, we can make the real value creation to the society by companies transparent,” explained Christian Heller, CEO of the value balancing alliance e. V.
According to BASF, the company for example has measured its multidimensional value creation along the value chain with its “Value-to-Society” programme since 2013. Together with external experts, it has developed this approach to perform a monetary assessment of the economic, ecological, and social impacts of its business activities along the value chain.
The company shares its experiences in networks and initiatives such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the Natural Capital Coalition, the Impact Valuation Roundtable or the Embankment Project for Inclusive Capitalism. BASF said it is also involved in the corresponding standardisation processes within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).