Impact

Impact refers to the effect an organisation has or could have on the economy, environment, and people, including effects on their human rights, as a result of the organization’s activities or business relationships. The impacts can be actual or potential, negative or positive, short-term or long-term, intended or unintended, direct or indirect, and reversible or irreversible. These impacts indicate the organization’s contribution, negative or positive, to sustainable development. The impacts on the economy, environment, and people are interrelated.
The organization’s impacts on the environment refer to the impacts on living organisms and non-living elements, including air, land, water, and ecosystems. An organization can have an impact on the environment through, for example, its use of energy, land, water, and other natural resources.
The organization’s impacts on people refer to the impacts on individuals and groups, such as communities, vulnerable groups, or society. This includes the impacts the organization has on people’s human rights. An organization can have an impact on people through, for example, its employment practices (e.g. the wages it pays to employees), its supply chain (e.g. the working conditions of workers of suppliers), and its products and services (e.g. their safety or accessibility).