With data becoming ever "bigger", increasing in volume (not sampling, just ingesting), with greater velocity (available in near real-time) and in limitless variety (drawing from text, images, audio, video, and many new forms), there is great potential to change the way we understand and care for the world. Specifically, concepts like “sustainability” begin to take on more definition. Big data is fueled by the power of transparency and can help to identify sustainability leaders and those lagging behind, encouraging the setting of sustainability targets across corporate and sovereign landscapes.
Transparency is the engine which drives any data train. As more and more information is available to citizen journalists, or required by regulators, our capacity for acquiring increasing “volumes” continues to expand. More data means more possibility for understanding and insight.
Big data offers the possibility for ever more nuanced and up to date rankings of corporate performance. The rankings that currently exist for global corporations focus on how they perform on environmental, social and governance factors. These rankings are generally done using small data, namely a sampling reported by the companies themselves, alongside other analysis and news stories. They can be weeks or even months out of date, and have very sporadic levels of assurance or verified accuracy.
Real-time rankings
True big data can transform these levels of candidness. Situations could arise where corporate or government behaviour is knowable and comparable through many different channels and is updated in near real-time. Consumers, regulators and investors could absorb this information through comparable scores, video and graphical forms, with instant feedback on leaders and laggards. Investment, regulatory enforcement and shopping decisions could be informed by real-time rankings of “sustainability”, looking at the lifecycle effect of supporting the product or decision of global corporates and sovereigns.
Imagine that the frame of reference for these rankings is not how entities compare with each other—which is largely what we do now—but rather how their products or services or decisions are likely to impact the sustainability of the planet. Big data could have the ability to create a system for measuring our progress on key sustainable development goals such as eliminating extreme poverty, improving climate health, and providing universal education.
Big data could fuel decision-making across areas such as global consumption, regulation and investment. Earning a “high score” on any given ranking would serve as an indicator that a corporation is producing “net good” for the planet.
This vision of big data is not an Orwellian quagmire, but rather a world where truth and knowledge create the real potential for measurable sustainability.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (EIU) or any other member of The Economist Group. The Economist Group (including the EIU) cannot accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this article or any of the information, opinions or conclusions set out in the article.
