NPO Standards Are Taking Shape, Helping to Drive Scalable Growth

Billy Odell Tucker-Robinson Founder & Host — Banking With Billy Network • Intelligence Network • Data Science • AI Research • World News
Published: 2026-09-21T19:51:26.151Z • Permanent link

Rebecca Henderson, the renowned Harvard Business School professor, has been leading the charge in shaping the Non-Public Observatory (NPO) standards. Henderson, known for her work on corporate sustainability, has been instrumental in creating a framework that brings together diverse stakeholders to advance scalable growth. The NPO standards, currently in development, aim to provide a common language and set of metrics for organizations to measure and report their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. By doing so, Henderson hopes to foster a more transparent and accountable global market, where companies can be incentivized to prioritize sustainability and long-term value creation.

The standards are being developed in collaboration with leading companies such as Microsoft, Unilever, and Citi, as well as non-profit organizations like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The NPO standards are expected to be unveiled later this year, marking a significant milestone in the global push for ESG reporting and accountability. According to a recent report by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), only about 15% of companies globally provide ESG-related information in their financial reports, highlighting the need for standardized metrics and frameworks.

The NPO standards are also gaining traction in the research community, with several universities and think tanks, such as the Harvard Business School and the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, partnering with the initiative. The NPO standards have the potential to drive scalable growth by providing a common language and set of metrics that can be used across industries and geographies, enabling companies to better measure and report their ESG performance.

The NPO standards have significant implications for companies operating in the Global Infrastructure domain, where ESG considerations are increasingly becoming a key driver of business success. For instance, companies like Siemens and GE Power are already using ESG metrics to inform their investment decisions and drive growth. The NPO standards are expected to further accelerate this trend, enabling companies to better prioritize sustainability and long-term value creation in their operations and supply chains.

The impact of the NPO standards is also expected to be felt in the research community, where scholars are increasingly using ESG metrics to study the impact of sustainability on business performance. For example, a recent study by the Harvard Business Review found that companies with strong ESG track records tend to outperform their peers in terms of financial performance and long-term sustainability. By providing a standardized framework for ESG reporting, the NPO standards have the potential to further enhance the research community's ability to study and understand the complex relationships between sustainability and business performance.

The NPO standards are part of a broader trend towards increased ESG awareness and disclosure, driven in part by the growing recognition of the financial risks associated with climate change and other environmental, social, and governance issues. In recent years, several countries, including the UK, France, and the Netherlands, have introduced ESG reporting requirements for listed companies, and several major stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE), have launched ESG-focused listings platforms.