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The Heritage Sustainability Index : A Tool to Benchmark Corporate Safeguard Policies and Practices for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Mason, Andrew R.

Abstract

This article describes the Heritage Sustainability Index (HSI), a benchmarking tool that draws on a series of key indicators to rate company actions as they relate to the protection of cultural heritage. The purpose of the HSI is to provide an independent framework for lenders, borrowers, and civil society, including Indigenous Peoples, to evaluate corporate safeguard policies and practices related to cultural heritage, enabling informed decision making. Given their importance and influence, the HSI focuses on the practices of Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs), which were chosen to represent a baseline for comparison across all industry sectors. The HSI’s indicators (n = 12) and sub-indicators (n = 48) were successful in illustrating the variability that exists among the G-SIBs. Corporations with an HSI value below the upper quartile of the distribution should take steps to enhance their cultural heritage safeguard practices. This is crucial because scores below this value reflect weak practices, indicating higher financial and reputational risk exposures and poor outcomes for cultural heritage. By focusing on improving their HSI values, these corporations can better mitigate potential risks and enhance their overall sustainability profile. The success and longevity of the HSI will depend on industry goodwill and the perceived risk that cultural heritage poses to corporate financial performance and reputation. Given the potential financial and reputational damage from a significant failure in cultural heritage stewardship, corporations are expected to recognize these advantages and find it an easy decision to support the adoption of the HSI.

Item Metadata

Title
The Heritage Sustainability Index : A Tool to Benchmark Corporate Safeguard Policies and Practices for the Protection of Cultural Heritage
Creator
Mason, Andrew R.
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Date Issued
2025-03-05
Description
This article describes the Heritage Sustainability Index (HSI), a benchmarking tool that draws on a series of key indicators to rate company actions as they relate to the protection of cultural heritage. The purpose of the HSI is to provide an independent framework for lenders, borrowers, and civil society, including Indigenous Peoples, to evaluate corporate safeguard policies and practices related to cultural heritage, enabling informed decision making. Given their importance and influence, the HSI focuses on the practices of Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs), which were chosen to represent a baseline for comparison across all industry sectors. The HSI’s indicators (n = 12) and sub-indicators (n = 48) were successful in illustrating the variability that exists among the G-SIBs. Corporations with an HSI value below the upper quartile of the distribution should take steps to enhance their cultural heritage safeguard practices. This is crucial because scores below this value reflect weak practices, indicating higher financial and reputational risk exposures and poor outcomes for cultural heritage. By focusing on improving their HSI values, these corporations can better mitigate potential risks and enhance their overall sustainability profile. The success and longevity of the HSI will depend on industry goodwill and the perceived risk that cultural heritage poses to corporate financial performance and reputation. Given the potential financial and reputational damage from a significant failure in cultural heritage stewardship, corporations are expected to recognize these advantages and find it an easy decision to support the adoption of the HSI.
Subject
cultural heritage; equator principles; ESG; finance; human rights; IFC; Indigenous Peoples; ISO 26000; sustainable development goals; UNESCO world heritage
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2025-05-02
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
CC BY 4.0
DOI
10.14288/1.0448730
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90984
Affiliation
Arts, Faculty of; Anthropology, Department of
Citation
Heritage 8 (3): 96 (2025)
Publisher DOI
10.3390/heritage8030096
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Researcher
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
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CC BY 4.0