Agnostic

CDP’s Disclosure System is a tool for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. It enables these organisations to make their environmental impacts transparent, to understand how to reduce their negative impacts and to progress towards environmental stewardship.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Communicate: Report to all stakeholders on climate change, forests and water security, based on the organisation’s governance and policy, risks and opportunity management, environmental targets, and strategy and scenario analysis. Responses receive a grade from A-D based on the organisation’s disclosed performance.

Reporting standards designed to help organisations understand and disclose their impacts in a way that meets the needs of multiple stakeholders. These standards are arranged by a set of Universal Standards that apply to all organisations, and 35 Topic Standards that contain disclosures for impacts related to economic, environmental and social topics.

Use this resource to:

• Measure, assess and value: The standards themselves provide guidance on selecting metrics to report. Using standardised metrics helps the organisation and its stakeholders compare performance with others.
• Communicate: Report to all stakeholders on ‘material topics’ that reflect the organisation’s most significant impacts.

Research on impact valuation published in the form of case studies and white papers. Specific illustrative examples are provided for product impact.

Use this resource to:

• Learn about key considerations when monetising impact, using publicly available information on companies.

The SDG Impact Assurance Scheme is an assurance criteria for demonstrating adherence to the SDG Impact Standards for Enterprises, Private Equity Funds or Bonds, and associated certification.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Verification, assurance & certification: Certify that an organisation’s systems and processes adhere to the SDG Impact Standards.

Reporting framework that provides principles-based guidance for organisations seeking to create an integrated report, containing both financial and non-financial information. The guidance is tailored specifically for private sector, for-profit companies, but the Framework can also be applied to the public sector and non-for-profit organisations.

Use this resource to:

• Communicate: Report to providers of financial capital on sustainability topics that are likely to affect value creation over the short-, medium-, and long-term.

This reporting framework offers companies seven guiding principles and 12 reporting requirements to help prepare (financially) material and decision-useful environmental disclosures for the mainstream report. CDSB additionally offers topic-specific guidance for companies, such as on climate-related reporting and climate accounting.

Use this resource to:

• Measure, assess and value: Understand the measurement and disclosure standards and guidance for organisations, so that investors can provide capacity to the asset to help adherence.
• Communicate: Understand how underlying assets might prepare environmental and climate change information in a way that connects to mainstream financial information.

The Impact Standards for Financing Sustainable Development (IS-FSD) is a framework for donors, development finance institutions (DFIs) and their private partners to make financial decisions that maximise their positive contribution to the SDGs. The Standards are harmonised with the UNDP SDG Impact Standards.

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.

This handbook assists impact investors with integrating their impact considerations into their investment practices. It provides practical strategies, tools and case studies to help investors align their financial goals with positive social and environmental outcomes. The handbook covers various aspects of impact investing, including impact measurement, due diligence, portfolio management, and stakeholder engagement.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Implement: Execute the strategies outlined in the handbook to integrate impact considerations into investment processes and decision-making. This involves incorporating impact metrics and assessment methodologies into investment analysis, due diligence and portfolio management practices.

The Methodology for Comparing and Assessing Impact provides an analytical framework to compare impact performance, with a specific focus on variance and the extent of the change required to enable meaningful contribution toward impact.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Monitor, learn and adapt: Determine to what extent an investment contributes meaningfully to social or environmental progress.

The GIIN Operating Principles for Impact Management provide a framework for investors and fund managers to manage and measure their impact. The principles outline best practices for impact management across the investment lifecycle, from strategy development to implementation, monitoring and reporting.

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.