Accelerating Sustainable Business Ambition and Action
WRI creates agenda-setting research, tools and partnerships for companies to define ambition, assess and reduce impacts, and integrate environmental and social sustainability with business strategy.
Our Challenge
Business influence on governments, consumers and global value chains impact ecosystems and lives around the world. The private sector can be a force for good, innovating and scaling solutions to the world’s toughest challenges. Or it can perpetuate systems that profit off outdated practices and threaten our collective future.
While corporate sustainability has made tremendous progress over the past 20 years, there’s still much further to go. The global population is projected to reach 8.5 billion people by 2030, and our production and consumption models aren’t efficient enough to meet our needs.
Transformative business models and technological innovation need to accelerate. From the foundation of evidence and transparency, business must also follow through on their words with aligned policy advocacy, multilateral cooperation and outcomes.
Society currently uses 60% more natural resources than Earth can renew annually.
Number of companies approved to science-based climate targets.
Economic opportunity offered by a circular economy.
Barriers companies can face when they try to engage on climate policy.
Our Approach
Planetary resources are limited, and environmental stewardship is essential for businesses to co-create an equitable and sustainable future. WRI aims to accelerate the private sector’s transition to inclusive, sustainable models that go from doing better to doing enough.
We produce evidence-based research and analysis that defines the scope, opportunity and impact of business, Corporate leaders rely on these tools to develop smarter sustainability strategies and act as responsible stewards for people and planet.
We develop standards to guide measurement, science-based target-setting, and management of greenhouse gas emissions, natural resources, food waste and more.
We provide tools to help businesses assess risks throughout their supply chains — such as water scarcity and deforestation — and employ solutions to mitigate them. And we convene stakeholders to resolve systemic challenges, amplify common concerns and identify innovative solutions.
Not only are our business offerings the go-to resources for forward-thinking companies, but we also address thorny issues and uncomfortable trade-offs on the pathway to business transformation.
Science-based targets provide companies with a clearly defined pathway to future-proof growth by specifying how much and how quickly they need to reduce their impact on natural resources. WRI is a partner in the SBTi working with 2,000+ companies on their science based targets for climate as well as the SBTN developing guidance for science based targets for land, water, ocean and biodiversity.
WRI helps companies better measure their footprint and manage resources, calls for increased ambition like science-based targets, and makes the case for disruptive business models and climate policy advocacy. Explore all projects in depth.
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Corporate Water Stewardship
Advancing sustainable water management in the private sector by empowering companies to reduce business risks and driving innovation in water-related data, tools and strategies.
Part of Water
Global Forest Watch
Offering the latest data, technology and tools that empower people everywhere to better manage and protect forest landscapes.
Part of Forests
Tools for Business
Providing the private sector with research, guidance and tools to accelerate corporate sustainability ambition.
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Evidence Based Corporate Sustainability Collaborations
Companies committed to doing less bad and enough good rely on partners like WRI to inform integrated sustainability strategies and achieve ambitious outcomes.
Part of Business
The Corporate Consultative Group (CCG) brings together over 35 global companies and sustainability leaders to advance business practices that mitigate risks and support sustainable growth.
Corporate Sustainability Research
WRI’s rigorous peer-review process is why corporate sustainability professionals trust our evidence-based research and independent, unbiased analysis to inform their action today for better societies and markets tomorrow.
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Seven Barriers to U.S. Business Leadership on Climate Policy and How to Break Them Down
Working Paper June 16, 2021
Square Your Circle: How to Ensure a Just Transition to Reuse Business Models in Apparel
Guidebook September 8, 2020
From Doing Better to Doing Enough: Anchoring Corporate Sustainability Targets in Science
Working Paper October 19, 2016
