Measuring the development footprint of six multinational companies

Geneva, 18 January 2007 - A generic framework to measure the contribution and impact of the private sector on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) has been developed and will be made available as a web-based tool to companies that wish to measure their own contributions to the MDGs.

In 2005, the Dutch National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO) commissioned Dutch Sustainability Research (DSR) to develop a generic framework that measured the contributions of the private sector and civil society to all eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The framework was revised in 2006 to focus on measuring the impact and indirect contributions of the private sector to the MDGs.

The new MDG framework includes 77 indicators consisting of a series of questions that investigate policies, management systems and performance, both positive and negative.

The six companies measured in the study were ABN AMRO, TNT, Philips, Heineken, BHP Billiton and Akzo Nobel. DSR collected and analyzed public and corporate information of the participants and allocated scores within the MDG framework.

The results were discussed with the participating companies and new information was incorporated into the framework.

Key Findings

• The study found that all six participating companies contribute positively to the MDGs and have taken proactive steps towards implementing the MDGs into their operations.
• Some of the companies tested contribute directly to the MDGs by developing products and services particularly aimed at developing countries while others have limited opportunity to contribute to the MDGs due to the nature of their business. The contributions of these companies are exclusively derived from how the companies operate in developing countries.
• The framework provides useful insights when looking at a single company's performance over time or when comparing companies within the same sector but is limited in terms of the comparability across different sectors.

In 2007, NCDO aims to launch a web-based tool with which companies can independently measure their MDG contributions.

Further information

• Download ( 746 kb) the full text of the report
• Contact: Thierry Sanders (t.sanders @ncdo.nl)

Report provided courtesy of the Dutch National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development, which regularly surveys Dutch public opinion towards international cooperation and researches international issues concerning Dutch development cooperation. NCDO is an independent, neutral organization working to strengthen and highlight public support for international cooperation and sustainable development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Author WBCSD Publication Date 18 Jan 2007 Document Type Case studies Issue/Topic Development Region Europe Country Netherlands Company Akzo Nobel nv BHP Billiton Limited Royal Philips Electronics N.V. TNT N.V. Source NCDO Include In RSS WBCSD News & Updates Sustainable Development Case Studies