A reference that most companies use is the information that is available on the webpage. The about page and/or the pages that describes the vision, mission, goals, etc. tend to give an overview of how the company communicate how it views itself.

To use the annual report, or other report where the company more in detail describe its role in society, can also be good to include as these reports tend to give a bit more detail, and for some add important information that might not be on the “about page”. In addition to the annual report the impact or sustainability report can also be used for benchmarking depending on their importance.

The current strategy, or one under development, allow the company to explore how the current direction of company relate to the needs in society and how it plans to approach the need for climate action in society. Here the strategic approach, climate risk innovation or climate opportunity innovation are often easy to identify.

Many companies, and especially large companies, often have cutting edge work where solution-oriented staff explore new opportunities. Including such work and see how it relate to the mainstream work can help guide strategies as many companies are further ahead with a solution agenda than many in the company knows. Knowing that activates already exist in the direction the company wants to move often provide staff with confidence that the company can change fast.

The vision of the company provides an opportunity to discuss were the company, or a group within the company, would like the company to be in a few years. Such a benchmarking often help the company to establish a path and speed of transition, where the current communication, the new strategy, cutting edge work, and finally the vision for the future tend to provide an overview of the trajectory and possible opportunities/tensions ahead. The vision can be an official vision, or a vision developed by a group in the company, such as those leading the cutting edge work.

An external assessment can be done in different ways, but one way is to include key stakeholders and include both those that might be the most critical, and those that are the most strategic patterners and have worked with the company before in innovative projects.

Other data such as patent portfolio, internal education material, and marketing material. There are many different sets of data that can be used in a benchmarking process depending on what kind of company it is and the situation it is in.

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