- One year ago, Fundación SERES launched the SERES Index of Social Footprint©: a measuring methodology for the social impact of economic projects that is already implemented and offers better standards in terms of social and economic connection.
- Measuring models like the SERES Index of Social Footprint allow to put the social impact of business project into objective terms. SERSE works with the most exacting dimension, the social aspect, which faces barriers such as the lack of standardization or the added difficulty of how to associate it with the economic field.
- Fundación SERES promotes the commitment of companies to improve society. About 150 companies, which represent around 70% of the IBEX 35 companies and approximately 30% of Spain’s GDP, are members of SERES.
The assessment of ESG aspects within company activities has brought to light the importance of social issues. The Fundación Seres has been hard at work for many years to make the outcomes of social impact visible. These face an important obstacle: how to make their return tangible. The SERES Index of Social Footprint is the result of that work to measure and back the relevance of social aspects. This is a methodology to measure the social impact of economic projects that will offer better standards in terms of economic and social connection and will help to an economic recovery that leaves no one behind. Furthermore, it will also help identify business opportunities, understand and quantify key aspects related to social elements within the framework of the EU’s Recovery Plan for Europe. This analysis includes multiple axes such as the human capital, social capital, business model and innovation, leadership and governance, and it also intends to give clarity and rigor to the measuring process of the impact of social challenges, which, is currently not standardized.
The Fundación SERES held a session with Sacyr to reflect on the importance, evolution, and opportunities that this methodology offers.
Fernando Ruiz, president of the Fundación SERES discussed these topics with Manuel Manrique, chairman de Sacyr, and Margarita Delgado, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain.
According to Fernando Ruiz “to only measure financial results is not enough to know a company’s worth, and it will not help answer the social and environmental challenges that we are faced with now. Likewise, it is not enough to obtain metrics of a company’s worth in the short term. For this reason, measuring models need to change and include sustainability impacts”.
Manuel Manrique explained that “due to the nature of the activities that we carry out at Sacyr, we have been measuring and evaluating the present and future social and environmental impacts of our projects and services for many years. With time, we have gone from just measuring impacts for monitoring and reporting purposes to designing transformative projects and services that generate a positive social and environmental outcome; and this has its reflection on our purpose, our company strategy and on the Sacyr Sustainable Action Plan 2025.
In the words of Margarita Delgado, deputy governor of the Bank of Spain “obtaining data, analyzing and interpreting it, and disseminating it, are the foundations of proper risk management”.
During the dialogue, the chairman of Sacyr expressed that “in the past few years, from the investors’ point of view, and according to reference stock market indexes, we have already proven that sustainability is a generator of greater profitability margins and trust compared to other companies with poorer results in ESG criteria. In Sacyr’s case, we have been recognized as the most sustainable in our industry, and we are above average in regard to sustainability matters, according to multiple specialized rating agencies. This sustainable approach has granted us access to financing with more favorable conditions, such is the case of two social bonds we issued in Colombia -the largest so far tied to infrastructure projects in Latin America-, or two green financings in Spain. So, we are already assessed positively for extra-financial aspects”.
The deputy governor of the Bank of Spain has stressed the relevancy of ESG aspects in the business and financial spheres by affirming that “the goal is to make ESG aspects gain increasing importance and become another factor to take into account in investment decisions”. She insisted that from the Bank of Spain “we are working intensively in climate risk analysis and its implications, but social aspects will progressively grow in importance”.
Ana Sainz, CEO of the Fundación SERES stated that “We need to design ex ante, thinking about the positive social footprint you want to generate. The value you get is ex post, when you get the metrics. The goal is not to just think of the social impact in social projects, but in our day-to-day, with financial investments or other kinds of projects. Metrics have always been a crucial part of our work at SERES with other companies. Companies want to make progress, create real collaboration opportunities to face social challenges, implement new work process, greater efficiency and sustainability in their results”.
Full video: https://lnkd.in/eF6Hhvba
Download the report: https://lnkd.in/e-Sb-uZ5