Sustainable Impact Tool

All cultural organisations in Switzerland can apply for a free login in order to use the tool. To register, please click here. Access will be granted within 48 hours.

All those applying for a login must confirm that they are authorised to represent the stated organisation. It is possible for several representatives of a single organisation to register. If the tool is being jointly used, all users can process and delete data.

The use of Firefox or Google Chrome is recommended. It is possible that certain information is not displayed correctly in Safari.

Only the representatives who have a login can view the entered data and evaluations of the organisation. In the background, data are used anonymously to calculate the benchmarks.

Using various modules, the tool enables a structured collection and analysis of information on the organisation’s sustainability efforts at institutional level and in connection with individual productions, tours and events. Users can navigate freely between different topics or projects. Thanks to the memory function, data can be entered on an ongoing basis. As soon as the collection of data has been completed, an overall evaluation can be generated.

Select the category that appears to be the most relevant for comparing your range of offers with that of others. In what field do you have direct competitors?

Organisations that are involved in several arts disciplines should select the one that is the most typical for in terms of emission data. There is no separate category for organisations covering several disciplines since this would distort the calculation of benchmarks for the individual categories.

1. Strategy / Concept:
   The first part of the modules is concerned with the availability of a strategic concept and its content. The concept can either be outlined or uploaded as a file. In certain modules, an organisation can only receive the maximum points (benchmarking) if a concept has been provided.
2. Data collection:
   
   In the second part, both quantitative and qualitative data are collected. The indicators used are based on international standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative Standards (GRI).
3. Measures:
   In the last part, measures are designed that can be adopted to reduce the organisation’s ecological footprint or to strengthen positive developments in the field of social sustainability. Users can also add measures of their own.

The tool covers all topics that were identified as important by the National Cultural Dialogue (‘Nationaler Kulturdialog’). It was further developed on the basis of international standards of sustainability reporting (e.g. GRI).

The environmental modules are relevant for calculating the emissions of the institution or project. The tool also includes modules on social sustainability to enable comprehensive sustainability reporting. The social sustainability modules are being expanded during the pilot phase up to the end of 2026.

We recommend that the topics are clustered in accordance with the responsibilities within the organisation. Topics that are not relevant for the organisation can be omitted. To help identify the most important topics, we suggest the conducting of a relevance analysis in accordance with the GRI standards.

The evaluation can only be shown after the data entry has been completed. It is possible to adjust data up to three days after the completion of the data entry. If further adjustments are necessary after this deadline, please send an email to acting responsibly. The reason for this limit is to prevent data from being adjusted indefinitely, which would detract from the value of the data provided.

The benchmarking is based on the totality of collected data from organisations in the selected category. The charts show where the organisation in question stands in comparison with others. A scale from 0% to 100% is used for the evaluation. The strategic part (module part 1) makes up 25% of the overall evaluation. The remaining evaluation is based on the quantitative and qualitative data entered. Measures taken do not have a direct impact on the evaluation. The benchmarking system serves only as a guideline – the main focus should be on the development that the organisation has undergone over the years and is currently undergoing.

Your data are saved whenever you click on ‘Save’ at the end of the page after completing a module.

For an evaluation of data in the following year, the original entries can be copied and adjusted. This means that only the year-on-year changes need to be newly entered.

The data on which the calculations of the CO2 equivalent emissions are based come from various sources. Priority was given to publicly accessible data for Switzerland insofar as they are available. The ecoinvent database was also used as a source for further calculations. In the case of specific evaluations, we used calculations and scientific sources of our own.

Each organisation is itself responsible for the quality of the data it provides. The quality of the data entered is decisive for the quality of the results.

The development of the tool was co-financed by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and Migros Culture Percentage. The costs for the further development during the pilot phase (2025 to 2026) are covered by Pro Helvetia.

Questions and requests can be sent by email to acting responsibly. Once the tool has been launched, free workshops will be offered by acting responsibly as a support for users. Associated information can be found on sustainable-impact-tool.ch or in the tool itself.

The data and presentations of the evaluation provide a good basis for the drafting for a sustainability report. If required, acting responsibly can, subject to a fee, create such a report in a concise form. If you are interested, please contact acting responsibly.