CHAPTER 6The foundations for measuring social, environmental, and economic impacts

Measuring the payoffs of sustainability initiatives is challenging even without specifically identifying the appropriate inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes. However, to know if sustainability strategies are succeeding, measurement of these elements is critical. In addition, surveys indicate a growing market in impact investments that are made into companies, nonprofit organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social, environmental, and economic impact alongside a financial return.1 Although it is difficult to precisely measure sustainability performance, social science, economic, and financial analysis techniques that provide reasonable ...

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