3.2 Eco-social benefits
When considering the eco-social benefits of a business, the questions at issue are:
- What ecological or social benefits is the business model generating?
- Who are the beneficiaries? Are they potential customers?
- Is it possible to transform the benefits into a value proposition?
In the case of drone spraying, the reduction of chemical runoff and exposure will lead to less environmental contamination, increased biodiversity and healthier local communities.
When considering eco-social benefits, you may also be thinking about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). These are a set of 17 global objectives established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The SDGs aim to tackle a variety of global issues, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. Each goal includes specific targets and indicators to track progress, with the aim of achieving them by 2030. These goals are designed to be interconnected, acknowledging that actions in one area will influence outcomes in others, and emphasising that development must balance social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The 17 goals are shown in the figure below.
When thinking of the eco-social benefits block of the sustainable business model canvas, it is important to reflect on how your business model might influence specific SDGs. For instance, in the case of drone spraying, Goal 15 – life on land (i.e. protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss) and Goal 3 – good health and well-being (i.e. ensure healthy lives and well-being at all ages) would be applicable as the reduced chemical use would contribute to a healthier ecosystem and increased biodiversity, as well as benefiting the field workers and local communities’ health. Moreover, the drone industry itself as an innovation would match Goal 9 – industry, innovation, and infrastructure (i.e. build resilient infrastructure, and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation).
In addition to the SDGs, the Common Good Balance Sheet is a tool which can be used to assess the eco-social benefits of a business based on various indicators related to human dignity, solidarity, environmental sustainability, social justice, and democratic participation. The common good matrix serves as a framework for assessing business activities and facilitating organisational growth. 20 Common Good themes describe and offer direction on evaluating an organisation’s contribution for the common good.
To use the Common Good Matrix, you need to understand the four values in the columns shown in Figure 9 and how they match with the different groups of stakeholders in the rows.
You could gather data and information from your business and assess each indicator within the matrix. You could rate each good theme on a scale (such as 1 to 7 or 0 to 10), with a higher score equating to a better performance. You could then analyse the results and identify the strengths and weaknesses of your organisation against each theme for future improvement.
For example, if you want to measure environmental sustainability, you would need to gather information on the indicators about resource consumption and waste management, and measure energy usage, water consumption and waste production. Page 69 of the document in the Further reading below provides more information about E3 reduction of the environmental impact.
Further reading
For more information, visit: Workbook, Compact balance sheet 5.0 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (Blachfellner, et al., 2017)