Giving Compass' Take:

• This B the Change post (with accompanying report) introduces us to life cycle assessments, a way for companies to measure the overall impacts of their products over a long period of time.

• This tool could be game-changing for business leaders looking to advance Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. How might it help us push for progress in areas such as conservation and economic development?

• Here are some innovative ways to promote CSR besides donating money.

An increasingly popular tool, life cycle assessments (LCAs) are strategic methodologies that measure the overall impacts of products from their inception through the end of their life. As such, LCAs reveal where organizations should focus their attention in light of resource constraints, public expectations around climate change and ever-changing business environments.

Many Certified B Corporations such as Prana Biovegan and Seventh Generation are using LCAs to turn around their business practices to embrace broad, long-term management models responsive to all activities in their supply chain. Companies like these deploy LCAs to orient their energies in the right strategic direction, obtaining a holistic overview of all the factors related to a company’s ecological footprint  —  which, sooner or later, have a bearing on its ongoing financial and social success.

However, teams often lack further insight on how to deploy LCAs to turn shared challenges into opportunities for collaboration, let alone for the actual healing and restoration of human communities and ecosystems.

For this reason, I’m glad to share a viable pathway that is enabling B Corps and other courageous, forward-looking companies to use the transformational potential of LCAs as a force for good. Blending the expertise of B Corp Ellio Consulting with transformational sustainability principles, this pathway will enable your organization to begin (or continue) along an innovative journey into the 21st century.

Read the full article about life cycle assessments by Eduardo Sasso at B the Change.