Our Philosophy

We believe that sustainability requires a balance; weighing up environmental concerns against human wellbeing. We think that the need to reduce CO2 emissions should be considered alongside the rights of developing nations to work their way to a better standard of living. Our mission is to quantify the socio-economic benefits of global trade to promote a rational framework for balancing social and environmental considerations.

What we do

We research the relationship between economic growth and improved living standards in developing economies; and we convert this research into simple-to-use tools which can help organisations understand the impact of their activities and make informed procurement decisions.

Our OnBalance tool translates the growth an organisation can bring to a country’s economy into the number of people lifted out of poverty. Our research uses a subset of indicators from the United Nations Human Development report, covering national levels of poverty, nutrition, sanitation, education and health.

In 2009, Sequoia conducted a research project into the social benefits of economic growth and founded OnBalance Associates Limited, a Not-for-profit organisation to disseminate the findings of Sequoia's research to a wider audience.

As of May 2010, Sequoia announce that the socio-economic footprint service offered by OnBalance Associates Limited is to be re-positioned as a service of The Sequoia Partnership. We are committed to conducting further research into the social and environmental impacts of economic growth and believe continuing this research under the Sequoia brand provides the most sustainable platform for conducting further analysis.