Industry-agnostic

The CFO Principles on Integrated SDG Investments and Finance guide companies in aligning their sustainability commitments with credible corporate finance strategies geared towards contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Implement: Integrate impact management and SDG contribution into the organisation’s corporate finance function.

Participating in the UN Global Compact requires a commitment from organisations to report annually on efforts to operate responsibly in four areas: human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

Use this resource to:

• Communicate: Submit an annual Communication on Progress on implementing the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.

The principles provide guidance for financial institutions and their public and private stakeholders to transition to an impact-based economy that can deliver on people’s needs and aspirations within planetary boundaries. The Principles promote Positive Impact Finance as a key solution for bridging the funding gap required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Implement: Understand key definitions and requirements for the delivery and assessment of positive impact finance.

The SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds provide a decision-making framework for integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into one or more funds.

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.

The SDG Impact Standards for Bond Issuers are practice standards that provide a common language and a system for integrating sustainable development issues, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and impact management practices into business and investment decision-making.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Implement: The standards are designed to transform how enterprises and investors think about value creation, and integrate impact management and contributing positively to the SDGs.

The Financial Sector Science-Based Target Guidance helps financial instituions to set science-based targets related to climate.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Set Targets and plan: Set a portfolio target for greenhouse gas emissions.

The Responsible Business Conduct for Institutional Investors helps institutional investors implement the due diligence provisions of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

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.

Guidance that provides a set of minimum requirements that investors should meet to prevent negative social or environmental impacts.

Use this resource to:

• Implement: Act on minimum requirements for risk management, labour, resource efficiency, community, land resettlement, biodiversity, indigenous people and cultural heritage.

“Maximise Your Impact: A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs” proposes a practical approach for social entrepreneurs to understand and maximise the positive social value they create, supporting both the creation and development of impact-oriented organisations.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Strategy: Develop a strategy and business model that address the root causes of the problem that the organisation is trying to solve.
• Governance: Set the right governance structure and practices to serve the organisation’s mission.
• Identify: Identify the problems and solutions that the organisation will seek to address, including through qualitative research and stakeholder engagement.
• Measure, assess and value: Check whether the organisation has all the information it needs to assess its impacts. The guidance contains 10 questions that guide impact assessment, functioning as a checklist to ensure all necessary contextual information is collected.
• Set targets and plan: Create an impact goal (the core problem that the organisation is trying to achieve), set targets and forecast changes that the organisation is planning to make towards the impact goal and associated targets.
• Implement: Integrate information on social value into management decision-making.
• Monitor, learn and adapt: Understand how to use the collected information to decide whether to change, stop or scale-up activities, and learn how to develop a set of recommendations about adapting targets.

Report Assurance standard that provides criteria to assess the application of SVI’s Social Value Principles as evidenced in a report. Assurance is conducted acting in the interests of the affected stakeholders, an important distinction versus other assurance standards that are currently available.

Use this resource to:

• Assure a report that has been prepared in accordance with the Principles of Social Value. The Principles of Social Value and associated practice standards help organisations measure and manage the social value generated through their business activities. This means the assurance standard is best applied to a report that has been prepared in accordance with the principles from the outset. The assurance standard is used to assess application of the principles, it does not assure accuracy of performance information.