With the ultimate goal of empowering CCSIs to reduce their environmental impact and enhance their social contributions, CreaSus is actively progressing on its first crucial step: developing a comprehensive system of self-assessment indicators to guide CCSIs through sustainable transformation.
The selection of indicators involves a detailed peer review process, led by the University of Bari with the support of CreaSus partners. As the cornerstone of future resources and tools, the prioritization of indicators is essential to ensure the system can efficiently inform CCSIs about their level of sustainability.
This initial step has resulted in a preliminary structure, in which indicators are categorised into three main blocks: Environmental, Social, and Governance.
- The environmental dimension examines resource use, including water, sanitation, waste, and energy; innovation through technology; and mobility, among others.
- The social dimension explores workforce aspects such as the gender pay gap, youth involvement, parental and caregiver leave; and responsibility towards consumers and affected communities through the products and/or services offered.
- The governance dimension addresses areas such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy and management aspects, including remuneration, intellectual property, and the composition of managerial positions and board seats.
This first stage will be enriched with contributions from CreaSus partners and the Expert Advisory Board to finalize an official pre-selected list of indicators. Once this step is achieved, the project will host an online co-creation workshop with CCSIs supporting the project to test, provide feedback, and involve them in the process. The workshop will further explain the pre-selected indicators and guide participants in choosing them based on various criteria: understandability, complexity of the measurement process, cost of measurement, interest, and clarity.
Selection of blocks and prioritisation of indicators: Criterion and challenges
In relation to the selection of environmental, social and governance blocks to cluster the indicators, Teodoro Gallucci, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher at Dipartimento di Economia, Management e Diritto dell’Impresa (DEMDI), University of Bari, explains:
In a changing and sustainability-conscious scenario, organisations are adopting a more integrated perspective of rigorous corporate governance, geared toward the creation of sustainable value shared with all stakeholders. Therefore, the simultaneous pursuit of economic, social (poverty reduction poverty reduction, social justice, equality, well-being, community development community, etc.), environmental (long-term resource availability protection of biodiversity, etc.) and governance objectives must be embedded in corporate leadership and integrated into business models, to reap the benefits in terms of efficiency and innovation.
Given these premises, through the construction of a set of indicators, it is interesting to assess the approach of creative and cultural companies in defining and adopting business models, corporate strategies, corporate governance and non-financial reporting tools that can signal progress towards cultural transformation linked to a sustainable approach.
After determining the main indicator blocks, the challenge lies in prioritizing certain indicators over others within the framework of CCSI’s activities. Regarding this process and the challenges it presents, Teodoro comments:
In recent years, concerns related to climate change, the exploitation of natural resources, poverty and social inequalities have turned sustainable development into a strategic priority for businesses. It is evident, therefore, that the business landscape has changed radically from just a few years ago, with potentially destabilizing impacts from business models that change or are newly created to cope with the changing competitive environment.
The main challenge behind the identification of indicators for CCIS was to adapt environmental and social sustainability and governance issues to the different types of companies characterizing the CCIS taxonomy. Many indicators were modelled on international and European standards defining sustainability reporting.
These indicators aim to guide creative and cultural organizations towards renewing their missions and core values by defining more sustainable business models to stimulate their growth and competitiveness in the global market.
Connection to Upcoming Results
The system of indicators will form the basis of the self-assessment tool and the sustainability assessment model. This tool will be part of the future CreaSus online platform, which will also include guidelines and best practices for sustainable transformation and a funding schemes toolkit. This toolkit will guide CCSIs through market and financial opportunities related to sustainability practices.
The self-assessment tool will enable CCSIs to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, providing immediate feedback to help them plan future goals and recognize accomplishments. This tool is inspired by successful self-assessment tools used within the European Commission and will be customized to meet the specific needs of CCSIs.
