Increasing evidence of the positive correlation between sustainability performance and financial performance of companies has motivated the proliferation of tools that seek to assess corporate sustainability performance and provide guidance to companies on sustainable business practices and sustainability reporting. Despite the growing number of tools for evaluating, rating and ranking the sustainability performance of companies, the assessment methodologies and frameworks of these tools have not been fully disclosed, leaving both (socially) responsible investors and companies with little publicly available information and understanding of the sustainability issues that are relevant to business practices. This research is an exploratory study seeking to gain greater insight into corporate sustainability assessment as it is practiced within the capital markets. The research specifically examines the extent to which three prominent stock market sustainability indexes, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, the FTSE4Good Index Series and the Jantzi Social Index, represent the sustainability performance of companies. The study involves a comparative analysis of sustainability criteria, and an examination of the extent to which the concept of sustainable development and the theoretical perspectives on sustainability assessment are reflected in the assessment frameworks of the indexes. Furthermore, a secondary question addressed in this study is the extent to which the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 Guidelines and the ISO 26000 standard influence the sustainability criteria used in the indexes’ assessment frameworks. The significance of this secondary question is to understand the extent of alignment between tools which provide guidance on sustainable business practices and tools which assess corporate sustainability performance. A significant finding of this research is the lack of standardization amongst the assessment and guidance tools on the core sustainability issues that are relevant to businesses across all industry sectors. While all of the tools generally follow the same model of organizing sustainability criteria according to environmental, social and economic themes, within each of those themes, a wide spectrum of issues are covered, with poor consensus amongst the tools on the core indicators that are relevant to business practices. An additional finding is that while the theoretical perspectives on sustainable development and sustainability assessment are evident in the indexes, there is significant margin for improvement in terms of developing indicators which are future-oriented and focus on a long-term perspective, as well as incorporating the notion of context in performance metrics.

Increasing evidence of the positive correlation between sustainability performance and financial performance of companies has motivated the proliferation of tools that seek to assess corporate sustainability performance and provide guidance to companies on sustainable business practices and sustainability reporting. Despite the growing number of tools for evaluating, rating and ranking the sustainability performance of companies, the assessment methodologies and frameworks of these tools have not been fully disclosed, leaving both (socially) responsible investors and companies with little publicly available information and understanding of the sustainability issues that are relevant to business practices. This research is an exploratory study seeking to gain greater insight into corporate sustainability assessment as it is practiced within the capital markets. The research specifically examines the extent to which three prominent stock market sustainability indexes, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, the FTSE4Good Index Series and the Jantzi Social Index, represent the sustainability performance of companies. The study involves a comparative analysis of sustainability criteria, and an examination of the extent to which the concept of sustainable development and the theoretical perspectives on sustainability assessment are reflected in the assessment frameworks of the indexes. Furthermore, a secondary question addressed in this study is the extent to which the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 Guidelines and the ISO 26000 standard influence the sustainability criteria used in the indexes’ assessment frameworks. The significance of this secondary question is to understand the extent of alignment between tools which provide guidance on sustainable business practices and tools which assess corporate sustainability performance. A significant finding of this research is the lack of standardization amongst the assessment and guidance tools on the core sustainability issues that are relevant to businesses across all industry sectors. While all of the tools generally follow the same model of organizing sustainability criteria according to environmental, social and economic themes, within each of those themes, a wide spectrum of issues are covered, with poor consensus amongst the tools on the core indicators that are relevant to business practices. An additional finding is that while the theoretical perspectives on sustainable development and sustainability assessment are evident in the indexes, there is significant margin for improvement in terms of developing indicators which are future-oriented and focus on a long-term perspective, as well as incorporating the notion of context in performance metrics.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo geral propor um método monetário de avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial que contemple as dimensões econômica, ambiental e social. Para tanto, se propõe a: (i) estudar de forma exploratória o tema avaliação da sustentabilidade a fim de proporcionar uma maior familiarização com o mesmo e identificar suas lacunas; (ii) identificar a estrutura de avaliação da sustentabilidade a ser utilizada como base; (iii) monetizar os itens de avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial; (iv) avaliar e aprimorar o método desenvolvido através da análise de especialistas e da aplicação do mesmo na realidade de uma empresa. O método proposto permite a avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial em uma unidade de medida comumente utilizada pelas empresas, simples e compreensível, a unidade monetária, que possibilita a comparação direta em bases homogêneas. Além disso, a unidade monetária é muito importante para as empresas, visto que seu objetivo é gerar retorno financeiro. A avaliação global do desempenho da empresa é dada pelo soma dos custos ambientais e sociais e dos benefícios econômicos gerados. Quando o resultado for negativo, significa que os custos causados pela empresa são maiores que os benefícios e, portanto, a operação da mesma não traz vantagens para a sociedade, sendo recomendado que reverta essa situação ou pare de operar. Por outro lado, quando os benefícios forem maiores que os custos, a operação da empresa agrega valor para a sociedade. Entretanto, ressalta-se que a empresa deve sempre focar em minimizar custos ambientais e sociais. Assim, o método proposto contribui para orientar as empresas na busca de formas de atuação socialmente e ambientalmente benéficas, uma vez que orienta a diminuição dos custos relacionados a essas dimensões. O método demonstra como monetizar os itens de avaliação, a partir de dados da empresa e estimativas. Entende-se que o desafio de desenvolver um método com esta finalidade é grande, devido à complexidade das dimensões social, ambiental e econômica. Consequentemente, este trabalho apresenta uma estrutura completa de avaliação monetária da sustentabilidade empresarial, mas que deve ser considerada preliminar, aberta a complementações e aprimoramentos. / This study's main objective is to propose a corporate sustainability assessment monetary model that addresses the economic, environmental and social dimensions. For this, the thesis intends: (i) to study the sustainability assessment and identify gaps, (ii) to identify a framework for sustainability assessment to be used as a basis, (iii) to monetize the assessment items, (iv) to evaluate and improve the method through expert analysis and field application. The proposed model allows the corporate sustainability assessment in a unit of measure commonly used by companies, simple and understandable, the monetary unit, which allows direct comparison on homogeneous bases. Moreover, the monetary unit is very important for companies, since their goal is to generate financial return. The overall company assessment performance is given by the sum of the environmental and social costs and economic benefits. When the result is negative, it means that the costs incurred by the company are greater than the benefits, so the operation does not bring benefits to society and is recommended to reverse this situation or stop trading. On the other hand, when the benefits outweigh the costs, the operation of the company adds value to society. However, it is emphasized that the company should always focus on minimizing environmental and social costs. Thus, the model helps to guide companies on ways of acting socially and environmentally beneficial, since it guides the cost decrease in these dimensions. The model demonstrates how to monetize the assessment items from the enterprise data and estimates. It is understood that the challenge of developing a model for this purpose is large due to the complexity of social, environmental and economic issues. Consequently, this paper presents a complete corporate sustainability monetary assessment that should be considered a preliminary attempt, open to additions and improvements.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo geral propor um método monetário de avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial que contemple as dimensões econômica, ambiental e social. Para tanto, se propõe a: (i) estudar de forma exploratória o tema avaliação da sustentabilidade a fim de proporcionar uma maior familiarização com o mesmo e identificar suas lacunas; (ii) identificar a estrutura de avaliação da sustentabilidade a ser utilizada como base; (iii) monetizar os itens de avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial; (iv) avaliar e aprimorar o método desenvolvido através da análise de especialistas e da aplicação do mesmo na realidade de uma empresa. O método proposto permite a avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial em uma unidade de medida comumente utilizada pelas empresas, simples e compreensível, a unidade monetária, que possibilita a comparação direta em bases homogêneas. Além disso, a unidade monetária é muito importante para as empresas, visto que seu objetivo é gerar retorno financeiro. A avaliação global do desempenho da empresa é dada pelo soma dos custos ambientais e sociais e dos benefícios econômicos gerados. Quando o resultado for negativo, significa que os custos causados pela empresa são maiores que os benefícios e, portanto, a operação da mesma não traz vantagens para a sociedade, sendo recomendado que reverta essa situação ou pare de operar. Por outro lado, quando os benefícios forem maiores que os custos, a operação da empresa agrega valor para a sociedade. Entretanto, ressalta-se que a empresa deve sempre focar em minimizar custos ambientais e sociais. Assim, o método proposto contribui para orientar as empresas na busca de formas de atuação socialmente e ambientalmente benéficas, uma vez que orienta a diminuição dos custos relacionados a essas dimensões. O método demonstra como monetizar os itens de avaliação, a partir de dados da empresa e estimativas. Entende-se que o desafio de desenvolver um método com esta finalidade é grande, devido à complexidade das dimensões social, ambiental e econômica. Consequentemente, este trabalho apresenta uma estrutura completa de avaliação monetária da sustentabilidade empresarial, mas que deve ser considerada preliminar, aberta a complementações e aprimoramentos. / This study's main objective is to propose a corporate sustainability assessment monetary model that addresses the economic, environmental and social dimensions. For this, the thesis intends: (i) to study the sustainability assessment and identify gaps, (ii) to identify a framework for sustainability assessment to be used as a basis, (iii) to monetize the assessment items, (iv) to evaluate and improve the method through expert analysis and field application. The proposed model allows the corporate sustainability assessment in a unit of measure commonly used by companies, simple and understandable, the monetary unit, which allows direct comparison on homogeneous bases. Moreover, the monetary unit is very important for companies, since their goal is to generate financial return. The overall company assessment performance is given by the sum of the environmental and social costs and economic benefits. When the result is negative, it means that the costs incurred by the company are greater than the benefits, so the operation does not bring benefits to society and is recommended to reverse this situation or stop trading. On the other hand, when the benefits outweigh the costs, the operation of the company adds value to society. However, it is emphasized that the company should always focus on minimizing environmental and social costs. Thus, the model helps to guide companies on ways of acting socially and environmentally beneficial, since it guides the cost decrease in these dimensions. The model demonstrates how to monetize the assessment items from the enterprise data and estimates. It is understood that the challenge of developing a model for this purpose is large due to the complexity of social, environmental and economic issues. Consequently, this paper presents a complete corporate sustainability monetary assessment that should be considered a preliminary attempt, open to additions and improvements.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo geral propor um método monetário de avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial que contemple as dimensões econômica, ambiental e social. Para tanto, se propõe a: (i) estudar de forma exploratória o tema avaliação da sustentabilidade a fim de proporcionar uma maior familiarização com o mesmo e identificar suas lacunas; (ii) identificar a estrutura de avaliação da sustentabilidade a ser utilizada como base; (iii) monetizar os itens de avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial; (iv) avaliar e aprimorar o método desenvolvido através da análise de especialistas e da aplicação do mesmo na realidade de uma empresa. O método proposto permite a avaliação da sustentabilidade empresarial em uma unidade de medida comumente utilizada pelas empresas, simples e compreensível, a unidade monetária, que possibilita a comparação direta em bases homogêneas. Além disso, a unidade monetária é muito importante para as empresas, visto que seu objetivo é gerar retorno financeiro. A avaliação global do desempenho da empresa é dada pelo soma dos custos ambientais e sociais e dos benefícios econômicos gerados. Quando o resultado for negativo, significa que os custos causados pela empresa são maiores que os benefícios e, portanto, a operação da mesma não traz vantagens para a sociedade, sendo recomendado que reverta essa situação ou pare de operar. Por outro lado, quando os benefícios forem maiores que os custos, a operação da empresa agrega valor para a sociedade. Entretanto, ressalta-se que a empresa deve sempre focar em minimizar custos ambientais e sociais. Assim, o método proposto contribui para orientar as empresas na busca de formas de atuação socialmente e ambientalmente benéficas, uma vez que orienta a diminuição dos custos relacionados a essas dimensões. O método demonstra como monetizar os itens de avaliação, a partir de dados da empresa e estimativas. Entende-se que o desafio de desenvolver um método com esta finalidade é grande, devido à complexidade das dimensões social, ambiental e econômica. Consequentemente, este trabalho apresenta uma estrutura completa de avaliação monetária da sustentabilidade empresarial, mas que deve ser considerada preliminar, aberta a complementações e aprimoramentos. / This study's main objective is to propose a corporate sustainability assessment monetary model that addresses the economic, environmental and social dimensions. For this, the thesis intends: (i) to study the sustainability assessment and identify gaps, (ii) to identify a framework for sustainability assessment to be used as a basis, (iii) to monetize the assessment items, (iv) to evaluate and improve the method through expert analysis and field application. The proposed model allows the corporate sustainability assessment in a unit of measure commonly used by companies, simple and understandable, the monetary unit, which allows direct comparison on homogeneous bases. Moreover, the monetary unit is very important for companies, since their goal is to generate financial return. The overall company assessment performance is given by the sum of the environmental and social costs and economic benefits. When the result is negative, it means that the costs incurred by the company are greater than the benefits, so the operation does not bring benefits to society and is recommended to reverse this situation or stop trading. On the other hand, when the benefits outweigh the costs, the operation of the company adds value to society. However, it is emphasized that the company should always focus on minimizing environmental and social costs. Thus, the model helps to guide companies on ways of acting socially and environmentally beneficial, since it guides the cost decrease in these dimensions. The model demonstrates how to monetize the assessment items from the enterprise data and estimates. It is understood that the challenge of developing a model for this purpose is large due to the complexity of social, environmental and economic issues. Consequently, this paper presents a complete corporate sustainability monetary assessment that should be considered a preliminary attempt, open to additions and improvements.