Impact accounting: uses challenges and prospects

This new report by WBCSD and Valuing Impact offers a comprehensive look at how companies are embedding environmental and social impact valuation into business decisions – and what’s needed to unlock its full potential. 

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, the ability to understand and act on social and environmental impacts is becoming a strategic necessity. This new report explores how impact valuation can bring consistency, comparability, and relevance to decision-making across finance, risk, strategy, and stakeholder engagement. 

Drawing on interviews and surveys with companies and investors, the report outlines current use cases for impact accounting – such as stakeholder engagement and materiality assessment – while surfacing the technical, sectoral, and external barriers that limit its broader adoption. 

Despite the challenges, the report highlights significant untapped potential. With the right methods, tools, and incentives, impact accounting can help enhance strategic planning, risk management, business and product development, and portfolio and cost-benefit evaluation. 

Impact valuation is no longer an experiment – it is an imperative. This report reaffirms its transformative potential, providing a structured yet dynamic framework for embedding social, environmental, and economic intelligence into decision making.

– Alexandre da Rocha Leão, Sustainability & Impact Valuation Lead at Natura

What You’ll Find Inside

• Real-world examples of how businesses are using impact accounting today 
• Key barriers, including data gaps, inconsistent approaches and business integration 
• Guidance on technical and sectoral enablers 
• A framework for applying impact accounting across five decision-making domains 
• Insights from companies and investors across multiple sectors