Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism

The World Economic Forum's International Business Council (IBC), in collaboration with Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC, has developed the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics (SCM). These consist of 21 core and 34 expanded metrics organized into four pillars: Principles of Governance, Planet, People, and Prosperity. The framework aims to catalyze a systemic global solution for ESG reporting by encouraging companies to integrate these metrics into their mainstream annual reports using a "disclose or explain" approach. The metrics are drawn from existing standards to ensure universality across industries and geographies, focusing on long-term value creation for all stakeholders rather than just shareholders.

• The project established a framework of 21 core metrics and 34 expanded metrics designed to be universal and industry-agnostic. Core metrics are "primarily quantitative metrics for which information is already being reported by many firms" or are easily obtainable, while expanded metrics "tend to be less well‑established in existing practice and standards and have a wider value chain scope".
• The metrics are organized into four pillars aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Principles of Governance, Planet, People, and Prosperity. Governance is described as "foundational" for setting purpose and providing oversight for the other three pillars.
• Under the Planet pillar, core metrics focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, TCFD implementation, land use/ecological sensitivity, and water consumption in water-stressed areas. The framework advocates for full implementation of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and committing to net-zero emissions before 2050.
• The People pillar emphasizes dignity, equality, health, and future skills. Core metrics include diversity and inclusion percentages, pay equality ratios, and the ratio of CEO annual total compensation to the median of all other employees.
• The Prosperity pillar extends beyond traditional ESG by focusing on a company's contribution to a strong, inclusive economy. Core metrics include absolute numbers of new hires and turnover, direct economic value generated and distributed (EVG&D), total R&D expenses, and total global tax paid.
• The framework adopts a "disclose or explain" approach, acknowledging that some metrics may not be material or feasible for every company due to "confidentiality constraints, legal prohibitions, data availability, geographic idiosyncrasies or lack of materiality".
• The report introduces the concept of "dynamic materiality," where sustainability topics that may not be financially material in the short term can rapidly become so over the medium or longer term.
• Consultation with over 200 companies and investors showed strong support, with 88% of IBC respondents agreeing that universal, industry-agnostic ESG metrics would be useful for their company and 91% agreeing they would benefit financial markets.
• The IBC aims to use these metrics to catalyze a systemic global solution, such as a generally accepted international accounting standard for ESG, and notes current efforts by the IFRS Foundation and IOSCO to harmonize sustainability standards.
• The framework encourages companies to move from reporting simple outputs to capturing monetized impacts across the full value chain, citing the Natural Capital Protocol and ISO 14008 as resources for monetary valuation of environmental impacts.

APA

World Economic Forum (2020). Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IBC_Measuring_Stakeholder_Capitalism_Report_2020.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism. 2020. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IBC_Measuring_Stakeholder_Capitalism_Report_2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism |date=September 2020 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IBC_Measuring_Stakeholder_Capitalism_Report_2020.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2020measuring, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IBC_Measuring_Stakeholder_Capitalism_Report_2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }