Translating Environment into Social Value

This Thought Leadership Group (TLG), led by our esteemed members SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK and Ridge & Partners, aims to bridge the gap and enhance understanding of the environmental pillar of sustainability in the context of social value.

This is crucial because our Principles advocate for the incorporation of social, environmental, and economic value in decision-making. Our wellbeing is intricately linked to the natural world, necessitating a better acknowledgment that social value is interdependent with environmental value. We must ensure that decision-making takes this interdependence into account and responds appropriately.

The TLG will delve into how to translate and connect the environment into social value.

The proposed objectives* are:

  • Review of current practice – creation of an initial understanding of how the environment is included, translated and acted upon through social value practice, application of the SVI principles and considered in decision making already 
  • Gap analysis – explore how/if the environment-social value interface is useful to lead decision-making that maximise social value 
  • Future recommendations – explore how the environment is/could be included as an aspect of wellbeing in social value measurement and provide suggestions for any further action required to improve current practice 
  • Provide a space for peer learning 

The proposed outputs* are:

  • Data collection – feedback from TLG group and potential survey data (if the TLG decides to investigate key questions in survey)
  • Summary of the ‘Review of current practice’ and ‘Gap analysis’ – data and TLG insights collected will be summarised
  • Feed UK insights to international conversation – TLG insights will be shared into SVI’s Methodology Sub-Committee working group that is producing new guidance on how to account for environmental outcomes in SROI

*to be confirmed with Thought Leadership Group participants in first meeting.

Get involved

To support this work, we invite members that are already experts in environment and social value measurement to help us. All sectors are welcomed. This TLG is timebound and will over 6 months host 3 – 4 meetings with its participants, as well as collaborative work for participants to engage with in between meetings.

Contacts

Any questions? Please get in touch with: