From reducing your footprint to increasing your handprint – Sustainability Online

Advancing Sustainable Development Goals Through Positive Impact Metrics

From Footprint Reduction to Handprint Creation

Corporate sustainability initiatives have historically concentrated on mitigating negative environmental impacts, commonly referred to as reducing an organization’s “footprint.” This includes measures such as lowering greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing waste, and decreasing resource consumption. While these actions are fundamental to responsible business operations, a singular focus on harm reduction is insufficient for achieving the ambitious targets set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A paradigm shift is necessary, moving from solely minimizing negative footprints to actively creating positive environmental and social benefits, or a “handprint.” This approach repositions businesses as agents of positive change, capable of generating solutions that contribute directly to global sustainability targets. This report outlines a framework for businesses to understand, quantify, and communicate their positive handprint, thereby aligning their operations with key SDGs.

A Framework for Quantifying Positive Contributions to the SDGs

A systematic, four-step process enables organizations to transition from impact mitigation to positive contribution. This framework leverages established scientific methodologies to ensure that handprint claims are credible, quantifiable, and aligned with global sustainability objectives.

1. Establish a baseline scenario by conducting a systemic environmental footprint analysis.
2. Identify environmental hotspots and opportunities for improvement actions.
3. Assess and quantify the handprint of these improvement actions against the established baseline.
4. Communicate the verified handprint to stakeholders to foster transparency and inspire broader action.

Step 1: Establishing a Baseline through Systemic Footprint Analysis

The foundation for creating a handprint is a comprehensive understanding of a product or service’s existing environmental footprint across its entire value chain. The Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a robust scientific methodology for this purpose. An LCA provides a “cradle-to-grave” analysis of environmental impacts, which is essential for fulfilling the objectives of SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

Key impact categories assessed include:

• Global warming potential, directly relevant to SDG 13 (Climate Action).
• Water scarcity, addressing targets within SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).
• Biodiversity loss, impacting SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).
• Depletion of natural resources and impacts on human health.

This baseline assessment provides the critical reference point against which all future positive impacts (handprints) are measured.

Step 2: Identifying Hotspots for Targeted Improvement Actions

An LCA reveals environmental “hotspots”—the specific materials, processes, or life cycle stages that contribute most significantly to the overall negative footprint. These hotspots, which often lie outside a company’s direct operational control (upstream or downstream in the value chain), represent the most strategic opportunities for intervention. By focusing innovation and resources on these areas, businesses can develop solutions that generate the greatest positive impact, fostering progress toward SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) by promoting clean and environmentally sound technologies.

Step 3: Assessing the Handprint of Improvement Actions

A handprint is defined as the net positive environmental benefit created by a product or service when compared to a baseline scenario. For example, a company that manufactures a water-efficient showerhead creates a quantifiable handprint. While the production of the showerhead itself has a footprint, its use generates a larger, positive handprint by reducing water and energy consumption compared to a conventional alternative.

This positive impact can be quantified across multiple SDG-related categories:

• SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation): The handprint includes the volume of water saved over the product’s lifetime.
• SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action): The handprint includes the reduction in energy required for water heating and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

The handprint is a comparative indicator that demonstrates a clear and measurable contribution to sustainable development.

Step 4: Communicating and Scaling Positive Impact

Once a handprint has been quantified via an LCA and preferably verified by an independent third party, it becomes a powerful communication tool. Transparently reporting on positive contributions builds trust with stakeholders and substantiates a company’s commitment to the SDGs. Sharing these success stories can inspire industry-wide innovation and collaboration, thereby supporting SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). This process helps move the entire market toward more sustainable practices, creating a cascading positive effect that accelerates progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

  The article explicitly mentions “water scarcity” as a key environmental impact and uses the example of a company manufacturing a “showerhead that saves water” to illustrate a positive handprint. This directly connects to the sustainable management of water resources.

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

  The core theme is about businesses innovating (e.g., creating a new showerhead) and adopting new processes (Life Cycle Assessment) to make their operations and products more sustainable and resource-efficient, which aligns with retrofitting industries for sustainability.

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

  The article is fundamentally about changing production patterns. It advocates for companies to understand their entire value chain (“cradle to grave”), reduce waste and emissions, and manage resources sustainably, which are central tenets of SDG 12.

• SDG 13: Climate Action

  The article identifies “lowering emissions” and “global warming” as crucial areas for assessment and improvement. The example of the water-saving showerhead notes that it reduces “emissions related to heating water,” directly linking business actions to climate change mitigation.

• SDG 15: Life on Land

  The text lists “biodiversity loss” as one of the environmental impacts that can be assessed and managed through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, connecting business practices to the protection of ecosystems.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

  • Target 6.4: By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors. The article’s primary example of creating a “showerhead that saves water” is a direct method for increasing water-use efficiency at the consumer level, driven by industrial innovation.

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

  • Target 9.4: By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes. The article’s entire premise of using LCA to identify hotspots and create “handprints” supports the adoption of environmentally sound processes and technologies to improve sustainability.

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

  • Target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. The article discusses assessing the “depletion of natural resources” and understanding impacts across the “entire value chain” to improve resource use.
  • Target 12.6: Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle. The fourth step outlined, “Tell the world about your handprint,” is a direct call for companies to report on their positive sustainability actions, aligning with this target.

• SDG 13: Climate Action

  • Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation. The article serves as an educational piece for businesses, raising awareness and building capacity on how to quantify and improve their climate impact (“handprint for global warming”) through scientific methods like LCA.

• SDG 15: Life on Land

  • Target 15.9: By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into… business strategies. The article advocates for businesses to use LCA to assess their impact on “biodiversity loss” and create a positive “handprint for biodiversity,” thereby integrating these values into their product development and strategy.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

The article strongly implies the use of quantifiable, science-based indicators derived from the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. While it doesn’t name official SDG indicators, it describes the creation of business-level metrics that directly support them.

• Quantified Environmental Handprint: The central concept of the article is that a “handprint can be quantified for any impact category that can be assessed by an LCA.” This serves as a direct, measurable indicator of positive environmental performance.
• Handprint for Water Scarcity: Implied as a quantifiable reduction in water consumption compared to a baseline. For the showerhead example, this would be the volume of water saved per use, which directly measures progress towards water-use efficiency (Target 6.4).
• Handprint for Global Warming: Implied as a quantifiable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The article mentions reducing “emissions related to heating water.” This metric would measure progress in climate change mitigation (Target 13.3).
• Handprint for Biodiversity: Mentioned as a quantifiable positive impact on biodiversity. This would be an indicator of a company’s contribution to protecting ecosystems (Target 15.9).
• Sustainability Reporting: The final step, “Tell the world about your handprint,” implies the act of public reporting itself is an indicator. This aligns with measuring the number of companies that adopt and report on sustainable practices (Target 12.6).

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: sustainabilityonline.net