Since Release 2.1 in April 2019, we have been working with our growing ecosystem, and in particular our Expert Council, to refine and strengthen areas of the Future-Fit Business Benchmark to ensure our guidance is closely aligned with the latest thinking and resources. This article summarizes key differences, with more detail available in the Future-Fit Business Benchmark: Release 2.2 Updates document.
Break-Even Goals
There is one Action Guide for each of the 23 Break-Even Goals, with each document offering specific guidance for practitioners working with, or inside companies, on how to transform business operations, procurement practices, and products in the pursuit of future-fitness.
Key changes in Release 2.2 incorporated into these Action Guides are as follows:
- The guidance for assessing fitness has been updated for a number of the Break-Even Goals, either to align better with leading best practice or to clarify the nature and scope of the assessment. The changes across the goals vary in significance, but Action Guides to note in particular are: BE01: Renewable energy, BE06: Operational GHGs, BE09: Community Health, BE17: Product harm and BE22: Lobbying and advocacy.
- The progress indicators in BE09: Community health, BE13: Employee discrimination, BE14: Employee concerns, BE16: Product concerns and BE19: Product repurposing have been updated to achieve a more nuanced assessment (BE13), a more meaningful assessment (concerns mechanism-based goals) or a more consistent assessment (BE19).
Positive Pursuit Guide
This document explains the kinds of activities that any business may undertake – above and beyond its pursuit of Break‑Even Goals – to speed up society’s transition to future-fitness.
Key changes in Release 2.2 are as follows:
- Updated definitions for PP18: More people have access to economic opportunity, PP19: Individual freedoms are upheld for more people, and PP22: Governance is strengthened in pursuit of future-fitness to clarify the kinds of activities that would fall within these Positive Pursuits.
- Minor additional requirements for assessing and reporting on Positive Pursuits at the level of an input or output.
Implementation Guide
This document offers supplementary guidance on how to begin pursuing future-fitness and how to assess, report on and assure progress.
The only change to note in regard to Release 2.2 is that the Implementation Guide now contains an additional section to help companies determine whether a particular negative impact is operational or product related.
You can download all the Release 2.2 documents here. As ever, we would love to hear your thoughts and questions about the latest updates, so please contact us or post your reflections in the associated Changemaker Community forum thread.
