Members
ESG Club: Benchmarking Social & Climate Performance with the World Benchmarking Alliance
For this session, the ESG Club turned to global benchmarking, welcoming Joey Wei, Research Manager at the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), to unpack how 2,000 of the world's most influential companies are assessed on their real-world impact.
Joey opened by situating WBA within the broader shift from CSR to ESG, and from ESG to what WBA now calls transition planning: companies are increasingly judged not on policy commitments alone, but on whether those commitments translate into measurable delivery. He explained that WBA's companies are selected by impact, not self-nomination, and that findings on underperforming companies are never withdrawn on request, a design choice meant to protect the integrity of the benchmarks. Two pillars of Social and Climate benchmark apply to all businesses regardless of size.
The floor discussion centered on what these benchmarks mean in practice for companies operating in Taiwan, where WBA data shows local scores trailing global and French peers. Members compared notes on the practical difficulty of moving from ESG disclosure to demonstrable action, particularly around supply chain due diligence and living wage commitments, and discussed how peer benchmarking can be a useful mirror even for companies not directly assessed by WBA.
Participating companies:
- Anemone Ventures
- Lado Management
- Bureau Veritas
- Thales
- Decathlon
- Pernod Ricard
- Yahoo
- Ciel & Terre
- Eiger
- STMicroelectronics
- L'Oréal
- CMA CGM
- Cooperl
Next Meeting
The ESG Club will reconvene in October. Details on the topic and date will follow.
