Rachel Hodgdon Of IWBI On Putting The “H” (Health & Humanity) Into ESG
The IWBI’ Groundbreaking Health and Wellbeing Framework at NASDAQ Event
At a significant event held at the NASDAQ Marketsite, Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), announced a revolutionary framework for measuring health and wellbeing in ESG reporting. The initiative, developed in partnership with Humanity 2.0, aims to strengthen the “H” (Health and Humanity) component within ESG frameworks.
New Framework: 12 Core Competencies
The framework establishes 12 core competencies for measuring health and wellbeing in human and social capital. This comprehensive approach was developed through extensive research and collaboration, incorporating:
- Input from IWBI’s research team and research advisory
- Data from over 1.5 million respondents
- Contributions from 15+ survey providers
The framework serves two primary purposes:
- Providing organizations with a roadmap to enhance their human and social capital reporting and performance
- Guiding ESG scoring organizations in incorporating health and humanity metrics into their methodologies
Industry Leadership and Adoption
Leading organizations, including Estee Lauder and EY, are already implementing these principles. Hodgdon emphasized that companies utilizing the WELL Building Standard have a significant advantage in adopting these new competencies, as many features align with the framework’s requirements.
IWBI’s Growing Impact
The interview revealed impressive statistics about IWBI’s reach:
- Certifying approximately 7 million square feet daily
- Total coverage of 3.4 billion square feet
- Presence in 109 countries
Public-Private Partnership
Hodgdon emphasized the crucial role of public-private partnerships in addressing global challenges. The collaboration with Humanity 2.0 exemplifies this approach, demonstrating how cross-sector partnerships can drive meaningful change in corporate wellness initiatives.
Looking Forward
The framework represents a significant step toward integrating health and wellbeing metrics into ESG reporting. As Hodgdon noted, recent years have demonstrated that human health is materially significant to business performance, making this initiative particularly timely and relevant for investors and organizations alike.
About Rachel Hodgdon
As the President and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), Rachel Hodgdon is leading a movement to advance human health through healthier buildings, more vibrant communities and stronger, more equitable organizations. Her motto is “Always be winning for good,” and she’s put that to work at IWBI, developing research-backed tools to help organizations create places where people can thrive. Today, these people-first places extend across 5 billion square feet of space in 130 countries and growing.
Prior to joining IWBI, Rachel spent nearly a decade at the intersection of sustainability and human health, helping the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) make LEED the world’s most widely used green building rating system. At USGBC, she founded the Center for Green Schools, which mobilized $275B+ investments in LEED-certified educational facilities and deployed over 750,000 volunteers to transform schools on every continent.
Rachel serves on numerous boards and advisories for organizations including Second Nature and the Real Estate Pride Council. A graduate of Tufts University, she is a sought-after media voice, inspirational speaker and frequent guest lecturer and instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, the University of Connecticut School of Business and Tufts.
