Integrated Thinking Principles

Last updated: 2022

The Integrated Thinking Principles are a set of guidelines promoting integrated thinking in corporate reporting. Integrated thinking encourages organisations to consider how financial, as well as environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are interconnected and affect long-term value creation.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

  • Communicate: Provide disclosures that explain how financial and non-financial factors are considered in decision-making processes and contribute to long-term value creation.

SDG Investor Maps

Last updated: 2021

Country-level data and insights about SDG-enabling investment opportunities. This work focuses on the gap between interest in investing in SDGs and the business models that could provide investable opportunities.

Use this resource to:

  • Identify: Identify investment themes in emerging markets which have significant potential to advance the SDGs that are aligned to government policies and sustainable national development needs.

Impact Protocol for Banks

Last updated: 2022

The Impact Protocol provides a step-by-step guide of how to analyse and manage a bank’s portfolio impacts, as per UNEP FI’s holistic impact approach and in alignment with the requirements of the Principles for Responsible Banking. The Protocol provides an overview of the impact management process as a whole and is complemented by other UNEP FI resources including the Impact Management Tool and the Thematic Target-Setting Guidance, which can be used to operationalise the Protocol.

This is a cross-cutting resource, meaning that it supports the internal impact management process as a whole, rather than one or a few of the Actions of Impact Management.

Core Characteristics of Impact Investing

Last updated: 2019

The Core Characteristics of Impact Investing define the growing approach of impact investing, and offer the financial markets greater clarity on what constitutes credible impact investing.

This resource is for the following Actions of Impact Management:

  • Strategy: Intentionally contribute to positive social and environmental impact by using evidence and impact data in investment design, enabling the investor to manage impact performance and contribute to the growth of impact investing overall.

Global guidance on the integration of environmental, social and governance risks into insurance underwriting

Last updated: 2020

This guide is the first of its kind globally for managing ESG risks in risk assessment and insurance underwriting. It has an initial focus on non-life insurance business, also known as property and casualty insurance business.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

  • Identify: Understand the materiality of ESG risks to various lines of business and economic sectors, including characteristics that might affect the ability to assess and mitigate such risks.
  • Implement: Address the growing concerns by stakeholders across society (e.g. NGOs, investors, governments).

Driving meaningful data: financial materiality, sustainability performance and sustainability outcomes

Last updated: 2020

A framework that incorporates financial materiality and sustainability performance calibrated to progress on sustainability outcomes. This resource also considers sources of data needed to complete this picture across entities such as companies, governments and global institutions and activities.

Use this resource to:

  • Identify: Identify current and forward-looking information that assesses the range of sustainable risks and opportunities.
  • Measure, assess and value: Assess and interpret a company’s sustainability performance and alignment in the context of long-term sustainability goals and thresholds.

Bridging the gap: How infrastructure can contribute to SDG outcomes

This discussion paper details the current approaches that infrastructure investors are adopting to consider the Sustainable Development Goals as part of their investment approaches.

Use this resource to:

  • Identify: Identify outcomes caused by, contributed to and linked to their infrastructure investors, in relation to the SDGs.
  • Implement: Understand the methods by which infrastructure investors can achieve desired SDG outcomes. Ensure that outcomes in line with the SDGs are integrated into infrastructure investment processes.

OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct

Last updated: 2018

The Guidance provides practical support to enterprises seeking to implement of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, through plain language explanations of its due diligence recommendations and associated provisions.

This is a cross-cutting resource, meaning that it supports the internal impact management process as a whole, rather than one or a few of the Actions of Impact Management.

Finance Sector Supplement

Last updated: 2018

The Finance Sector Supplement is a specialised framework, in addition to the Natural Capital Protocol, to guide financial institutions in measuring and valuing natural capital impacts and dependencies across the entities and portfolios that they finance, invest in or underwrite.

This is a cross-cutting resource, meaning that it supports the internal impact management process as a whole, rather than one or a few of the Actions of Impact Management.