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Evaluating a company’s impact (the case of Disney)
A deep dive into Disney's environmental and social impact

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Terras - the climate action gathering for sustainability leaders.
This week’s read time: 5 minutes
You are reading Green Digest Impact, a weekly newsletter that provides in-depth analyses of companies’ environmental and social impact.
OUR APPROACH
Central to our narrative is the principle of double-materiality, which recognizes that a company's impact is twofold: it affects both the environment and society at large, and in turn, these external factors influence the company's financial and operational performance.
While traditional ESG assessments focus on the latter, we aim to examine companies' direct impacts on these factors. In pursuit of this, we introduce a unique scoring system that quantifies a company's impact.
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THIS WEEK’S COMPANY
Walt Disney

This week we dive deep into Walt Disney’s environmental and social impact.
The Walt Disney Company (Disney), is a global entertainment conglomerate renowned for its iconic animated films, theme parks, and media networks. Over the decades, Disney has expanded its portfolio to include television networks, a movie studio, merchandise, and theme parks, becoming one of the largest and most influential entertainment companies in the world.
Some interesting facts:
COMPANY’S IMPACT
Disney’s overall impact score

Disney has a general impact score of +1.12 (on a scale from -5 to +5). Its impact is spread across 9 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 8 topics, split between positive and negative analyses.
In the socio-economic sphere,
Disney is one of the world’s largest entertainment companies, bringing joy to millions of people worldwide through its movies, theme parks, TV shows, and merchandise. Disney provides high-quality, family-friendly entertainment that promotes values such as love, friendship, and courage. Its stories and characters have become cultural icons, transcending generations and bringing people together. Walt Disney World, which covers 10,000 hectares, is the most visited theme park worldwide, with 58 million annual visitors. Disney also owns many media channels, such as ESPN, ABC, National Geographic, etc., that are available in 34 languages across 164 countries. The company employs approximately 225,000 people (2023) and has achieved gender parity (with over 40% women inclusion as per ILO standards) at all levels, except for its board of directors.
However, through autoplay, and a presence of over 500 films, 15,000 episodes, and 80 Disney+ Originals, Disney+ facilitates binge-watching, which can increase the screen time of users. A survey showed that Disney+ users spend twice the amount of the recommended daily screen time on the streaming platform. Also, the company’s TV channels, ESPN and ABC, have apologized many times for airing inaccurate information, and the company has been accused of hindering inclusion and promoting a toxic beauty culture to audiences through its characters.
Environmentally,
Disney emits an estimated 23 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually (2023), including indirect emissions (equal to the emissions of 6 coal plants for a year). Annually, the company consumes about 35.6 million m3 of water (2023), a large percentage of it being in regions with high or extremely high baseline water stress. Disney also generates 244,363 tons of operational waste per year (2023), 61% of which it diverted from landfills (through recycling or donations).
*The impact score is current as of June 2024 and may be subject to changes as it is continuously updated.
**You can find details about the scoring methodology here.
ESG VS IMPACT SCORE
What is Disney’s ESG rating?

For comparison, Disney has an A rating in MSCI's ESG evaluation.
However, ESG Ratings from MSCI ESG Research are designed to measure a company’s resilience to financially material ESG risks and they provide a window into one facet of risk to financial performance. They measure how effectively companies manage ESG risks, not their impact on these factors.
SCORES BY SDG
Disney’s impact scores by SDG

Now, back to Disney’s impact score:
Positively (and by weight), the company scores the highest in Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions SDG (+0.44), followed by Good Health and Well-being (+1.06), and Gender Equality (+2.63).
Negatively, the company scores the worst in Reduced Inequalities SDG (-1.04), followed by Climate Action (-3.57), and Responsible Consumption and Production (-2.46).
*the analysis takes into account the weight of the SDGs

Disney also positively and negatively influences three SDGs (3 - Good Health and Well-being, 10 - Reduced Inequalities, 16 - Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), which effectively balance each other out. For example, it has a positive impact on Good Health and Well-being as it helps millions of people socialize, relax, and have fun. Negatively, because it contributes to excessive screen time.
PEER GROUP COMPARISON
Disney’s scores by ILG Theme

The Investment Leaders Group (ILG) is a global network of pension funds, insurers, and asset managers, with over $12 trillion under management. They came up with a framework to analyze impact that uses the SDGs as a reference point but with 6 broader themes, 3 of them related to Social (Basic Needs, Decent Work, Well-being), and the 3 others to Environmental (Climate Stability, Healthy Ecosystems, Resource Security). Each analysis is linked to one particular ILG Theme.
Disney scores negatively in four of the 6 ILG themes. However, the two themes that the company scores positively (Well-being and Decent Work), have the most weight in the analysis.
CONCLUSION
Final words

So, Disney’s key social and environmental impact lies in …
providing high-quality, family-friendly entertainment that brings joy and inspiration to millions worldwide. The company also provides hundreds of thousands of jobs, boosts tourism, and drives economic activity in regions where its parks and businesses operate.
Conversely, the company has a negative impact through its emissions, water usage, and waste production. Disney also facilitates binge-watching through its streaming platform, has sometimes aired inaccurate information, and allegedly promoted a toxic beauty culture to audiences through its characters.
Its positive +1.12 score is a balance of all of these factors and topics.
If you’d like to delve deeper into Disney’s impact, you can explore it here.
Next week, we will analyze the impact of LVMH (owner of Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moët & Chandon, Hennessy, Sephora, etc.), so stay tuned. 🍾
If you'd like to learn more about the scoring methodology, you can do so here.
Do you have a specific company you'd like us to cover? Send your suggestions to [email protected]
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