Strategic Sustainability Audit

Sustainability, or sustainable development, is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The rating system developed by KÖVET helps demonstrate the extent to which a company adheres to the principle of sustainable development.

What makes this assessment innovative is that it focuses not only on the organization’s own sustainability (e.g., economic viability) but also on its impact on the sustainability of systems outside the organization. Good examples of this include the long-term viability of the local economy or the quality of environmental elements. Sustainability assessments often overlook the latter—that is, they optimize only to the extent that it serves the organization’s interests. An example of this is increasing the material and energy efficiency of production without taking total pollution into account. In other words, growth that involves continuously rising emissions and resource consumption is not sustainable in the long term. The rating process covers all three pillars of sustainability: local economic responsibility, environmental responsibility, and social responsibility. A score of 0–25 is possible in each of the three categories. Based on these scores, the organization may be placed into one of the following categories: “harmful,” “self-serving,” “adequate,” “community-oriented,” or “sustainable.” During the classification process, company executives receive guidance for setting further goals.

Companies that were curious about how sustainable they were