Fujitsu is committed to helping businesses achieve their Net Positive status - contributing more to society and the environment than they consume. To support this commitment, our goal is to provide customers with a clear roadmap to Net Positive through digital services. Through our Fujitsu Uvance business, we supported the development of the Net Positive Assessment Tool, a first-of-its-kind tool that empowers businesses to measure and advance their progress towards Net Positive impact.
Consumers and investors are demanding increased transparency around social and environmental practices across the value chain, but availability of data is scarce: fewer than 5% of consumer-driven companies believe their environmental and social reporting is as reliable as their financial reporting.1 And business leaders remain uncertain if their investments in AI are generating enough efficiency and profitability gains to offset concerns about large-scale energy and water use.
What makes a successful business in this complex environment? A successful business delivers positive impacts for communities and the planet without compromising profitability and resilience. And a Net Positive approach does just that. It goes beyond minimising a company's footprint, to create meaningful benefits for people and the environment through a positive handprint. A Net Positive approach positions companies at the forefront of environmental, social and technological advances while building resilience against changes in regulation and consumer demand.
Defining Net Positive and putting it into practice
Net Positive is a business approach where companies not only aim to minimise their social and environmental footprint, but also actively create positive impacts that contribute to long-term sustainability and the well-being of people and the planet (ie, increase their handprint).
A Net Positive business creates positive value for the planet and people now and in the future (see Figure 1). Challenging a business-as-usual approach and calling for a transformation of priorities requires both leadership and collaboration among industry peers and other key actors to position the private sector as a critical part of the solution and to help drive profit with purpose.
Figure 1: Net Positive for maximum impact
Fujitsu's 'Advancing Net Positive Agenda’, developed and researched by Economist Enterprise, is a first-of-its-kind toolkit to help business leaders understand and progress towards Net Positive. It includes the Net Positive Index, an action-oriented benchmark of where companies within five industries are on their journey to become Net Positive, and the Net Positive Assessment Tool, which allows companies to assess where they are in their Net Positive journey (see Figure 2). The index and assessment tool measure companies against a set of actions that are effective in reducing negative impacts on people and the planet, increasing social and environmental handprints, and ensuring efficiency and profitability.
Figure 2: The Advancing Net Positive Agenda
Source: Economist Enterprise
Introducing the Net Positive Index
The Net Positive Index moves beyond traditional Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and sustainability assessments to create an action-oriented approach to understanding how companies within five industries are working to achieve net positivity.
The index framework has four key pillars:
Assess: Are companies measuring their current footprint and handprint?
Commit: Are companies publicly committed to and planning for a Net Positive future?
Implement: Are companies embedding Net Positive behaviours into their business operations?
Advance: Are companies taking action to advance Net Positive?
This Executive Summary highlights the Net Positive Index and its key findings, offering a roadmap for businesses to embark on their Net Positive journey. Adopting a Net Positive approach is more than a sustainability commitment. It is a unique opportunity to drive financial success while creating a better world. Is your business ready to lead the way?
Key Findings
Net Positive benefits business
Companies across all industries that have the highest scores in the Net Positive Index are more likely to be “on track” to meet revenue, profit and market share goals and are tracking ahead on investor confidence and sustainability goals. Yet, many companies still believe there is conflict between sustainability initiatives and other business priorities, and just 4% of businesses weigh financial, environmental and social performance equally (see Figure 5). The Net Positive Index suggests that adopting a Net Positive approach is not an ‘either-or’ decision. What steps can your company take to move beyond this misconception and align profitability with purpose?
Figure 5: A clash of priorities: balancing sustainability and business goals
Source: Economist Enterprise
Very few companies are truly Net Positive
The average score on the Net Positive Index is just 55/100 and no industry scores above 57 (see Figure 6). This underperformance is likely because companies are limiting themselves to an ESG mindset. They are focused on reducing harm through minimising their footprint rather than embracing a “Net Positive mentality” focused on increasing their handprint. Over four-in-five (82%) companies have targets focused on reducing negative impacts—such as a target to eliminate forced or child labour across their supply chains—while just 61% have targets to proactively support positive outcomes, such as reaching a living wage for employees (see “Understanding how to minimise negative and drive positive impact”). Shifting from mitigation to transformation drives more successful businesses.
Figure 6 - Net Positive Index scores
Source: Economist Enterprise
Understanding how to minimise negative and drive positive impact
The concept of reducing harm is one that we are all familiar with: decarbonisation and Net Zero are on every business radar. But a Net Positive approach asks companies to take a step further than minimising or even eliminating negative impact. It pushes companies to develop proactive strategies and take action to enhance natural and social capital.
These proactive strategies and actions to increase a company’s handprint cannot, however, be at the expense of, or in lieu of, minimising or eliminating negative impact. Therefore, the Net Positive Index assesses both actions companies are taking to eliminate harm and to drive positive impacts for a wide range of stakeholders (see Figure 7). What does this mean in practice?
Advancing Net Positive: the challenges
Businesses across all industries encounter significant challenges in pursuing Net Positive,
including supply chain complexities, conflicting regulations and resistance to change within organisations (see Figure 8). Despite these hurdles, over two-thirds (67%) believe that adopting a Net Positive approach will create cost-savings through increased efficiency and decreased climate risk, while almost three-in-five (57%) believe it will increase their regulatory compliance and risk management. What strategies can your company adopt to turn these challenges into opportunities and unlock the full potential of Net Positive?
Figure 8: Obstacles and advantages of embracing Net Positive % of respondents across all industries and regions
When companies are making progress towards Net Positive, they tend to focus their efforts on environmental issues
(See figure 9)
Social issues—including human rights protections and labour practices—are being neglected. Just 14% of companies across industries and regions describe the processes they use to identify human rights risks and impacts. And even fewer (5%) publicly state that workers shall not be required to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or more than 60 when overtime is included. Ensuring social issues do not fall off the radar is critical to achieve Net Positive.
Figure 9: Global success trends and shared pain points
Global success trends
Materiality assessment completion and audits
Action on scope 1 and 2 emissions (footprint assessment, targets, and disclosures)
Ad hoc or regular engagement in joint R&D initiatives to develop sustainability solutions
Investments in employee upskilling and reskilling
Policies for ethical marketing and advertising to customers
Shared pain points
Responsible lobbying and political engagement fundamentals
Transparent and responsible tax practices
Systems for preventing and addressing human rights issues
Protections and advancements for workers' rights and safety
Action on scope 3 emissions
Source: Economist Enterprise
Companies worldwide struggle to embed Net Positive practices across their value chains
While 92% of businesses report Scope 1 and 2 emissions from global operations annually, only 4% disclose emissions across key Scope 3 categories. Only one-in-four (26%) retail and financial services companies give independent actors open access to their supply chain (eg, to assess supplier labour practices) across most of their portfolio. And just one-third (34%) of retail, manufacturing, energy & utilities, and mobility companies are assessing and managing privacy and data security risks when partnering with third-party vendors.
Introducing the Net Positive Assessment Tool
The Net Positive Index is accompanied by the Net Positive Assessment Tool. The tool allows users to benchmark their company against industry and regional competitors on some of the Net Positive Index indicators and to understand where they are in their Net Positive journey.
The Net Positive Assessment Tool places companies into four groups depending on their scores:
Take the Net Positive Assessment now to learn your score and receive recommendations on actions your company can take to advance towards Net Positive.
Consumer-driven industries are outpacing their B2B peers on the Net Positive journey,
but no industry is a “Net Positive Leader”. Increased consumer scrutiny appears to be driving progress in the Retail sector, encouraging companies to implement worker protections across their value chains. Retail companies are more likely to disclose how they monitor the health and safety performance of entities in their value chains. They are also more likely to provide recent examples of engagement with stakeholders whose human rights were affected by their activities and to describe how they work to support the payment of a living wage by their business relationships (see Figure 10). These efforts highlight the power of accountability and transparency in advancing Net Positive practices.
Country spotlights
Advancing Net Positive: driving success
Effective data collection is a vital tool for advancing Net Positive.
Retail companies and companies based in Europe—the best-performing industry and region in the Net Positive Index, respectively—are the most likely to report that data collection has significantly helped reduce their negative social or environmental impacts. When companies where data collection moderately helped reduce their negative social or environmental impacts are also considered, over 75% of companies in all industries believe that data collection contributes to advancing Net Positive behaviour. Leveraging accurate and actionable data enables organisations to make meaningful strides towards Net Positive.
Companies that are employing technology and other tools to support their sustainability efforts are more likely to be tracking ahead on revenue and profit goals
(see figure 11)
However, companies are not managing the safe and responsible adoption of these technologies. While support and training are available, almost half of companies do not have formal processes to assess potential negative impacts, including job displacement and increased energy use. Similarly, only 56% have frameworks to navigate challenges like collecting diversity data without compromising employee privacy. Ensuring responsible and ethical implementation of technology is essential to capitalise on its potential to drive profitability and efficiency, and to maximise sustainability outcomes.
Industry spotlights
Conclusion
Today’s volatile business world has forced environmental and social issues to the back of many executives’ minds. It is not that companies are uninterested in driving change; it is that these issues seem less pressing than others. But this is where they are wrong: between 2019 and 2024, the 215 largest global companies anticipated US$1 trillion was at risk from climate impacts.2 Companies cannot flip-flop on sustainability depending on the political climate. Sustainability is a tangible business vector.
Embracing a Net Positive approach allows executives to deliver resilience against unpredictable economic, geopolitical, technological and climate risks while also taking advantage of innovation. It enables them to continue advancing their social and environmental goals without sacrificing revenue and profit.
While becoming a truly Net Positive business can require substantive transformation and a true mindset shift, there are many actions companies can take to start the journey towards Net Positive that require limited time and investment (see Figure 12). And if your organisation has already undertaken most of these quick wins, take the Net Positive Assessment Tool. Find your company’s score and get tailored recommendations on how to drive your company’s resilience and profitability while building a better world.