I was pleased to see that Social Value UK and Social Value International are inviting members to engage with them on their responses to a number of different consultations. In particular, I'm happy to have the opportunity to engage with the IFRS Foundation (that's International Financial Reporting Standards by the way) as it consults on a global approach to sustainability reporting.  

Sustainability - in effect finding a balance between the needs of the present and those of the future - is a phrase that gets bandied around a lot, and increasingly so as we are faced with the clear and potentially catastrophic climate and ecological emergency. But without robust reporting, to a consistent set of standards, it is easy to see how even advocates of social value and sustainability can find themselves unable to demonstrate the value of the work that they do (and the unscrupulous are left able to make statements about their practices that do not hold water).  

With this work, there is hope that there is a rebuttal to the lingering unhelpful argument that social value is difficult to measure - by looking to an international framework which enables us to measure and report on the impact of our actions - and a constructive way forward which both celebrates achievements and holds us to account. I look forward to the webinar with Jeremy Nicholls on Wednesday and to contributing to the consultation response.