SASB Pitch Deck Dec 7 2011

Industry-Based Sustainability Standards to Guide Corporations and
Investors on Material Issues for Disclosure in the Form 10-K
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
(SASB )
December 7, 2011 Confidential ©SASB 2011
TM
TM
0

Outline
 SASB introduction
 SASB key outputs
 SASB value proposition
 SASB business model
 SASB funding needs
 Next steps
 Appendix: Pro-forma
Copyright SASB 2011, all rights reserved. 1

Executive Summary - SASB
THE PROBLEM
THE OPPORTUNITY
THE SOLUTION
THE STRATEGY
THE RESULTS
Corporate growth and success are no longer constrained only by the availability of
financial capital. Global resource constraints and management of environmental and
social issues are integral to the long term success and value creation of companies.
Mandatory disclosure requirements must reflect a balanced view of risks and
opportunities across all forms of capital a company employs.
Map issues to industries and establish material ESG priorities. Develop a tailored set of
sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) for each industry that can be reported
in Form 10-K. Develop a web-based platform for transparent rapid prototyping of
standards development with input from outside industry experts.
Establish a common industry-based ESG language, allowing companies and investors
to communicate and act on relevant issues; streamline considerations through an
industry approach; and improve competitiveness of U.S. industries on ESG issues.
Distribute industry standards for free, but establish a sustainable business model through
licensing of KPIs with third parties who gain commercial benefit from standards being in
place, such as education providers, software integrators, information brokers, stock
exchanges, etc.
The creation of the first industry-based sustainability standards that enable
comparable disclosure of a minimum set of material issues—enabling all 35,000
publicly traded U.S. companies to accurately report, benchmark, and improve
performance on the ESG issues that are relevant to their specific industry.
SASB will develop and maintain industry-based sustainability standards to guide US corporations
and their investors on material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues that should be
disclosed, at a minimum, in the Form 10-K and considered for a complete view of performance.
2Confidential and Proprietary. © Sustainability Accounting Standards BoardTM
2011, all rights reserved.

SASB: Strong associations with Harvard University
 In 2010, HBS Professor Robert Eccles and Mike Krzus published a book called
“One Report”, calling for companies to integrate reporting of financial and
nonfinancial performance in a single report. Professor Eccles is the Chairman
of SASB’s Board.
 Also in 2010, Steve Lydenberg, head of the Initiative for Responsible
Investment at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, co-authored a
paper on industry based KPIs with Jean Rogers, the Executive Director of SASB.
Steve Lydenberg is on SASB’s Board, and the IRI will assist with research on
materiality and convene SASB’s Standards Council for 2 years.
 Jean Rogers, the Executive Director of SASB, is a former Loeb Fellow at Harvard
University.
SASB has a strong history of relationships with Harvard Business
School and Kennedy School of Government which will enhance the
credibility of SASB and its founding partners and sponsors.

SASB: A Big Idea for Capital Markets Infrastructure
 The sustainability equivalent of GAAP for financials: a complete,
benchmarkable, auditable, enforceable set of industry specific
KPIs to characterize sustainability performance
 Accelerating the development of sustainability KPIs through
rapid prototype process
 Applicable to all 35,000 publicly listed US companies
 A new model for technology based standards development
 A new model for engagement with stakeholders
 A new model for sustainable non-profits
Bringing together financial data and critical sustainability data for the
improved functioning of capital markets in a resource constrained
world.

SASB Key Products – Materiality Map and Industry KPIs
These standards and the technology
platform that underlies them, will play a
fundamental role in making our markets
the most efficient, liquid, and resilient in
the world.
 The materiality map will be used as a basis for
determining investment strategies and
weighting portfolios according to desired
exposure to ESG risk. At SASB, it will be used
as the basis for determining which issues
warrant KPIs within an industry.
 The KPIs will be used by companies and
investors for disclosing and benchmarking
performance.
SASB 2012 Industry
Materiality Map
SASB Industry-Based
Sustainability KPIs
SASB’s two key products will be an official materiality map that establishes the priority of
sustainability issues by industry, and a complete set of industry based KPIs for 10 sectors and 68
industries.
State of the art web crawling and “heat mapping” technology will underpin SASB’s
materiality map, and best practices in measurement and metrics will inform SASB’s
standards.

Technology based standards development
SASB will leverage technology throughout the standards development
process, to promote broad participation, efficiency, and transparency
Develop KPIs Test KPIs Disseminate
standards
Best practices in
performance
measurement
will be crowd
sourced and
vetted with
industry
expertise from
corporations,
analysts, industry
associations, and
NGOs that cover
specific
industries
Backtesting will
determine
materiality and
effectiveness and
correlation with
financial metrics
 Develop
materiality
map
Web crawling
technologies will
assist with
understanding one
aspect of materiality
by evaluating the
frequency of
occurrence of issues
within an industry as
reported by the
media and peers
Develop
KPIs
Web platform
will enable
broad
dissemination
and promotion
of standards
for use by all
35,000
publicly listed
companies in
the US

7
Complete data sets
With SASB KPIs in place, companies will begin reporting on standard indicators, enabling
complete data sets to be readily aggregated and analyzed. The availability of comparable
data in the public eye will encourage companies to compete on the dimensions of
sustainability that really matter.
SASB KPIs
Confidential and Proprietary. © Sustainability Accounting Standards BoardTM

SASB meets the needs of investors and companies, enabling them to speak
the same language of sustainability and work towards the common goal of
creating value
Investors
 SASB enables companies to focus on the
material sustainability issues most likely to
create short and long term value.
 SASB provides a cost effective way to report on
material issues across the triple bottom line.
 SASB levels the playing field, requiring all
companies within an industry to report on the
same things in the same way
 SASB is the definitive source regarding material
issues to be included in mandatory filings such
as the Form 10-K- thereby eliminating corporate
liability for disclosure
 SASB eliminates the need for investor
questionnaires for the vast majority of investors
 SASB reduces the need for companies to define
supply chain impacts, because supply chain
company industries are also addressed
Companies
 SASB enables investors to focus on material
issues to ensure fiduciary duty.
 SASB “floats all the boats,” solving the problem
of universal ownership
 SASB enhances the competitiveness of US
companies, thereby creating long term value
 SASB generates actual performance data to
inform investment models and strategy
 SASB’s materiality map by industry allows
investors to tilt or weight their portfolios
according to the desired exposure to ESG issues
 SASB eliminates costs of obtaining ESG data on
companies, as it will be available in Form 10-K
 SASB enables benchmarking by industry peers
 SASB allows investors to spot impacts and
opportunities from ESG positioning
 SASB supports institutional, retail, SRI and
mainstream investors, providing open access to
material ESG information
For the benefit of all types of For the benefit of publicly listed

SASB –earning a significant % of income in four years*
SASB will require $13 million over three years to establish the industry standards and generate revenue
streams. For the first year, $3.1 million is needed to hire a team of 10 full-time employees to build the
standards. Profit generated in 2015 and beyond will be used for taking standards to a finer grain (200
sub-industries), establishing a permanent DC office, and industry outreach and education. Donations
taper off in 2016 and beyond, as revenue streams can be generated from the KPIs and materiality map.
$(2,000,000)
$-
$2,000,000
$4,000,000
$6,000,000
$8,000,000
$10,000,000
$12,000,000
$14,000,000
$16,000,000
$18,000,000
$20,000,000
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Revenue
Expenses
EBITDA
Donations
Earned Income
*Please see appendix for pro-forma details

A Diverse, Proven and Sustainable Business Model
Licensing the standards for commercial use in software, financial products, information services,
education and accreditation of professionals comprises the bulk of the revenues.
Industry
KPIs and
Disclosure
ProtocolsLicensing
Breakdown
Licensing
Licensing
Grants & donations
Reports and Data Mining
Expert Network
Annual Conference
Annual Revenue in 2016
Licensing $ 8,650,000
Grants & donations $ 4,500,000
Reports and Data Mining $ 2,475,000
Expert Network $ 1,400,000
Annual Conference $ 500,000
$ 17,525,000
Third party training courses
Accreditation of
professionals
Software integration
Information feeds and
reports
Financial products (indexes,
etc.)

Annual Operating Budget for SASB in 2016
In 5 years, SASB will have 60 multidisciplinary full-time employees to cover 10 sectors and
functional departments, with an office in DC to do outreach to key stakeholders.
Industry
KPIs and
Disclosure
Protocols
Annual Expenses in 2016
Operating expenses $ 6,931,450
Industry Standards team $ 5,024,809
Management Team $ 2,286,992
Comms and sales teams $ 539,280
Legal team $ 674,100
Education team $ 539,280
Partnerships team $ 539,280
IT team $ 209,720
Board and Advisors $ 240,000
Admin team $ 196,000
Development team $ 70,000
$ 17,250,911
Operating expenses
Industry Standards team
Management Team
Comms and sales teams
Legal team
Education team
Partnerships team
IT team
Board and Advisors
Admin team
Development team

Next Steps for SASB
 Secure seed funding by January 1, 2012
 Hire SASB core team: Initial hires are Executive Director, Director of Operations,
Quantitative Analyst, Director of Engagement and Sector Researcher
 Recruit additional board members and advisors
 Continue outreach to key stakeholders during quiet period
 Recruit additional founding sponsors
 Complete website development with full engagement capabilities
 Determine industry classification system and establish agreement for use
 Public launch planned for February 2012
 Formation of Standards Council
 Begin materiality mapping and development of standards
 Ongoing standards development – 1 sector per quarter
 Continued outreach with stakeholders, including SEC, FASB, Chamber of Commerce
and Business Roundtable

The Sustainability Standards Accounting Board (SASB) will develop and disseminate industry-
based sustainability performance indicators suitable for disclosure, performance management,
and benchmarking. SASB will focus on material sustainability issues and be developed through a
technology-led stakeholder process relying on a vetted network of industry experts. It will
address all industries and target the 35,000 publicly listed US companies as users. The
sustainability KPIs will be designed for integrated reporting in standard disclosure formats such as
the SEC Form 10-K, enabling a complete view of financial and sustainability performance and
comparison between companies within a sector. A sustainable business model for SASB will
support the technical offering. The industry sustainability standards will be offered free for the
public good, but their commercial use will be licensed. Implementation of SASB and use of the
standards by US corporations and their investors will improve the competitiveness of US industry
on the most pressing sustainability challenges facing industry and society today.
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
www.sasb.org

SASB Pitch Deck Dec 7 2011

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to SASB Pitch Deck Dec 7 2011

SASB Pitch Deck Dec 7 2011