The Company Transparency Impact Goal emphasizes the importance of a company’s transparency. Most importantly, the disclosure of policies and strategies aimed to help protect the consumer’s wellbeing. This includes openness in the making of products such as ingredients, nutritional value, use of chemicals or antibiotics, and the ability to prevent any harmful imitations. Moreover, it also considers the cyber security of all personal information from data breaches and misappropriation by third parties or hackers.
When scoring a company on the Company Transparency impact goal, the following underlying Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) factors are considered:
- Customer Welfare: Concerns about health & nutrition and antibiotic use in animal production. Also companies’ ability to provide products that are aligned with societal expectations. Ability to prevent counterfeit products.
- Data Security: Risks related to collection, retention, and use of sensitive information. Data breaches of personal information. Does the company have strategies and practices related to IT infrastructure, staff training, record keeping, cooperation with law enforcement, and other mechanisms to protect customer or user data?
- Selling Practices & Product Label: Issues from failing to manage transparency, such as accuracy and comprehensibility of marketing statements, advertising, labeling that is not deceptive or discriminatory, and predatory selling and lending practices including aggressive selling practices i.e. selling products that are not in the best of interest of clients/consumers.
- Product Quality & Safety: The ability to offer manufacturing products and services to meet expectations of customers' health characteristics. Involves liability, management of recalls, market withdrawals, product testing, chemicals, and ingredients.
The SASB is a non-profit organization founded in 2011 to help businesses and investors develop a common language about the financial impacts of sustainability. To learn more, see https://www.sasb.org/about/
To learn more about the Impact Scoring methodology, see How are Impact scores calculated?