Publications & Thought Leadership

Industry associations recognize the importance of helping their members to become more sustainable, to address emerging sustainability risks and opportunities that will affect their sector’s viability. This Sustainable and Just Association Benchmark is a tool to aid in that process.

The Sustainable and Just Association Benchmark is a sustainable industry benchmarking tool to help industry associations assess the comprehensiveness and coverage of their member sustainability programs. The Sustainable and Just Association Benchmark is based on 2007 research into the roles Canadian industry and trade associations are playing to help their industry become sustainable conducted by Coro in collaboration with Five Winds International for Natural Resources Canada. It was updated in 2017 based on new best practices and Coro’s experience helping industry associations improve the sustainability performance of their members and sectors, and then again in 2021 to reflect new research conducted by Coro.

The tool includes 28 practices for benchmarking purposes, some of which include:

• Board Governance and Management System
• Operations
• Risks and Opportunities
• Education and Consultation
• Tools and Practices
• Industry Collaboration
• Goals and Metrics
• Monitoring and Reporting
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Value-Chain Collaboration
• Public Engagement
• Standards and Verification
• International Engagement

Use the Sustainable and Just Association Benchmark to identify strengths and gaps in your industry association program, in order to identify opportunities to further progress your sector on the sustainability journey.