Aim

The Sustainable Development Goals place people at the heart and promote an agenda that envisions a world where no one is left behind. To achieve the Goals by 2030, human rights must be respected, inequalities need to be tackled head on and the current societal structures that constrain people from living a self-determined life must be transformed.

The World Benchmarking Alliance is assessing 2,000 largest and most influential companies on 12 high-level societal expectations that all companies should meet to ensure that they leave no one behind. These include topics such as paying workers a living wage, carrying out human rights due diligence, and responsible lobbying. The results of this assessment, known as the Social Benchmark, will be published around July 2024.

2024 Social Benchmark

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Publications

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What's our approach to assessing 2,000 companies on the social transformation?

Our Social Transformation Framework sets out the 12 high-level societal expectations that companies should meet in order to leave no one behind, support the SDGs and help create a future that works for everyone. It also outlines how we will incentivise companies to do so. These expectations are grouped into three categories: human rights, decent work and ethical conduct. They are signposted by 18 core social indicators that enable us to assess a wide breadth of companies.

See the framework

Spotlight benchmarks

Our spotlight benchmarks take a deeper dive into priority areas that, if addressed, will be key catalysts for change. Theý go beyond looking at companies’ policy commitments and hold companies accountable for their performance and progress. We chose these focus areas for their ability to cut across sectors and geographies.

Corporate Human Rights Benchmark

The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark assesses the human rights policies, processes and practices of some of the largest publicly traded companies across various sectors.

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Gender Benchmark

The Gender Benchmark assesses and compares how companies are driving and promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

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Use our social methodologies to assess companies in your region

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Latest news and updates

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Milestones

  1. Publish scoping report on assessing companies' contributions to a social transformation

    April 2020

  2. Publish our draft methodology for assessing a social transformation

    June 2020

  3. Consultation of the draft methodology for assessing a social transformation

    June to September 2020

  4. Publish Social Transformation Framework

    January 2021

  5. Publish assessment of 1,000 companies on their contributions to a social transformation

    January 2022

  6. Publish the first Social Benchmark, an assessment of 2,000 companies

    July 2024

  7. Publish our Methodology for the 2026 Social Benchmark

    October 2024

  8. Assess 2,000 companies on a rolling basis

    2024 onwards

Get involved

As we build our work, we continue to engage with stakeholders across the globe through targeted communications with key organisations and representatives. Get in touch to know more.

Namit Agarwal

Social Transformation Lead

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