The SIGMA Guiding Principles consist of two core elements:

1.	The holistic management of five diff e rent types of capital that reflect an organisation’s overall impact and wealth (in the broadest sense)
2.	The exercise of accountability, by being transparent and responsive to stakeholders and complying with relevant rules and standards.

The SIGMA Guiding Principles seek to illustrate and reflect what an organisation working towards sustainability would look like and some of the characteristics that such an organisation might exhibit. Figure 1 on the inside front cover shows how the two core elements of the SIGMA Guiding Principles can work in combination within organisations.

The five types of capital are:
Natural capital – the environment
Social capital – social relationships and structures
Human capital – people
Manufactured capital – fixed assets
Financial capital – profit and loss, sales, shares, cash etc

Natural capital encompasses the other capitals as natural resources and ecological systems form the basis of life, on which all organisations (and wider society) depend. Social, human and manufactured capitals are critical components of an organisation and its activities. High levels of these capitals deliver value to both organisations and society, not to mention improving the quality of life of stakeholders. Financial capital is crucial to the ongoing survival of an organisation, and is simply derived from the value that the other four capitals provide. All of the capitals are heavily interlinked and there is some overlap between them.

This whole system is then encircled by the principle of accountability, representing the relationship that an organisation has with the outside world – with its stakeholders and for its stewardship of the five capitals.

© 2001-2006 SIGMA Project

the SIGMA project  ||   guidelines  ||   toolkit  ||   R&D streams  ||   practical experience