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Learn more about ECG in https://www.ecogood.org/ and useful tools in Chapter 7.

5.4 Real-World Examples of the Common Good

Case 1. The ECG Movement.

The international movement “Economy for the Common Good” began in October 2010 on the initiative of
a dozen companies in Austria. Since then, some 2,200 businesses from fifty nations have joined the
movement, 400 of them have already implemented the Common Good Balance Sheet. There are three
banks among the pioneers and a multitude of public institutions such as the University of Applied Sciences
of Burgenland, Austria, which recently elected a “Common Good Officer.” The Universities of Flensburg
and Kiel in Germany have started a three-year research project to examine how well the balance sheet can
be implemented in large corporations. Three major corporations on the German stock exchange (DAX) are
taking part in the study. The University of Valencia, Spain will establish a chair dedicated to the Economy
for the Common Good, and the University of Barcelona, Spain has applied for a United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair dedicated to the ECG. Other schools and
universities have integrated the model in their curriculum or have completed the balance sheet.

The ECG movement consists of some 200 local chapters in twenty countries. Dozens of permanent working
groups called “hubs” work as editors on the content of the Common Good Balance Sheet, as ECG-certified
business consultants, auditors, speakers, ambassadors, and much more. Delegates from local chapters and
hubs meet once a year in the delegates’ assembly and vote on all strategic decisions using consensus
decision making. At present, twenty legal associations have been founded, and this year the international
ECG federation will be established in order to coordinate the global activities.