Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) plans are all the rage as companies work to address consumer and investor concerns. But many ESG planning tools, says Actual co-founder Derek Lyons, are too focused on gathering lots of precise data to, say, quantify carbon footprints. “That’s only a good way to measure the starting line of the race,” he says. Wary of data collection and analysis paralysis slowing change efforts down, Actual’s ESG platform avoids scary spreadsheets—Lyons and other co-founders were inspired by SimCity. Companies can set ESG goals and build gamified plans for change, even without exhaustive data sets. One example of what change looks like: The New Zealand Merino Company used Actual’s platform to give fashion brands a way to model the environmental impact of wool supply chains, and then track progress toward greenhouse gas reduction goals.
- Mickey Guyton Is TIME's 2022 Breakthrough Artist of the Year
- The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2022
- Column: What Elon Musk Gets Wrong About Free Speech
- The Forgotten Story of One of the First U.S. Soldiers Killed Overseas After Pearl Harbor
- Why You're More Likely to Get Sick in the Winter, According to New Research
- Column: What the Protests Tell Us About China's Future
- 18 Last-Minute Gifts for Everyone on Your List
- Despite World Cup Heartbreak, the Future Looks Bright for Men's Soccer in the U.S.
