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AA1000 Assurance Standard
A set of criteria that demonstrates adherence to AccountAbility’s four principles: inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact. Assurance using this assurance standard can cover an organisation’s practices as well as sustainability performance information.
Use this resource to:
- Verify: Assure a report or the organisation’s practices with reference to the AA1000. The subject matter for an assurance engagement is not pre-defined in the AA1000, meaning this assurance standard is commonly used to assure external reports prepared according to other reporting standards.
B Corp certification
Certification awarded when an organisation achieves a score of 80 on the B Impact Assessment.
Use this resource to:
- Verify: Become B Corp Certified. Organisations undergo verification including interviews, submitting documentation, and as necessary site reviews, to increase confidence that the company’s score is accurate and the required 80-point score has been achieved.
B Impact Assessment
Tool designed to help organisations measure and manage their impact on workers, community, environment, and customers.
Use this resource to:
- Identify sustainability topics: Fill in the online questionnaire to understand performance on sustainability topics that are likely relevant to manage, based on the organisation’s size, sector, and geography. B Lab’s questionnaire is developed through research and public consultation, and so provides an evidence-based starting point for identifying sustainability topics to measure.
- Measure sustainability performance: Use the B Impact Assessment as a set of metrics. The questionnaire enables organisations to quickly get started collecting information on performance on sustainability topics that are likely relevant to manage, based on the organisation’s size, sector, and geography.
- Assess impacts: Fill in the questionnaire to track change in performance over time. Each question is scored – some with reference to social or ecological thresholds – to help the organisation determine whether it is performing sustainably on that topic.
- Benchmark: Compare performance with peers on each sustainability topic or as a whole organisation. If an organisation scores 80 points or above on the questionnaire, it can apply to be certified as a B Corp. The tool provides guidance to help organisations improve their score every year, and all B Corps must update their responses to the self-assessment to re-certify every three years.
CDP’s Disclosure System
Tool for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. The CDP Disclosure System supports companies in making their environmental impact transparent to stakeholders, better understanding how they can reduce their impact, and act to become environmental leaders.
For organisations
Use this resource to:
- Identify sustainability topics: Fill in CDP’s questionnaires to understand the relevant climate change, forests and water security impacts to measure, based on the organization’s size, sector, and geography.
- Measure sustainability performance: Use CDP’s questionnaires as sets of environmental metrics.
- Assess impact: Fill in the questionnaires to track change in performance over time. Each question is scored – some with reference to social or ecological thresholds – to help the organisation determine whether it is performing sustainably on that topic.
- Disclose: Report to all stakeholders on climate change, forests and water security. The questionnaires provide a framework for companies to report environmental information to their stakeholders covering governance and policy, risks and opportunity management, environmental targets and strategy, and scenario analysis. Receive an A-D grading based on questionnaire responses.
- Benchmark: Tool allows companies to benchmark their environmental performance against their industry peers and receive feedback on their progress each year. The information disclosed is also used by financial markets for stewardship and engagement, in investment research, new financial products, and global indices and ratings.
For investors and financial institutions
Use this resource to:
- To be completed.
CDSB Framework for Reporting Environmental and Climate Change Information
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.
For organisations
Use this resource to:
- Integrate and act: Understand how to prepare environmental and climate change information in a way that connects to mainstream financial information.
- Disclose: Report on financially material environmental and climate change information.
For investors and financial institutions
Use this resource to:
- Assess: Understand the measurement and disclosure standards and guidance for organisations, so that investors can provide capacity to the asset to help adherence.
- Disclose: Understand how underlying assets might prepare environmental and climate change information in a way that connects to mainstream financial information.
CFO Principles on Integrated SDG Investments and Finance
Principles to guide companies in aligning their sustainability commitments with credible corporate finance strategies geared towards contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.
For organisations
Use this resource to:
- Governance, Strategy and Management Approach: Integrate impact management and contribution to the SDGs into the corporate finance function. This initiative involves a fee for participation.
For investors and financial institutions
Use this resource to:
- Strategy: Integrate impact management and contribution to the SDGs into the corporate finance function. This initiative involves a fee for participation
Communication on Progress
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:
- Disclose: Use this tool to submit an annual Communication on Progress.
Corporate Impact Analysis Tool
Tool to help banks and investors understand the actual and potential impacts of their clients and investee companies, as part of their impact management strategies and processes.
For organisations
Use this resource to:
- Set and revise objectives: Financial institutions can use the tool to co-define relevant and meaningful objectives for their clients and/or investee companies. It provides an impact analysis and management workflow that starts from the identification of impact associations and needs, facilitates the collection and assessment of impact performance data, and accordingly enables an action plan and specific objectives to be set and monitored over time.
- Identify sustainability topics: Use the tool to identify impact areas and topics (economic, environmental and social) associated with corporate clients and/or investee companies, based on an objective review (cartography) of the company’s sectoral and geographic breakdown. The tool contains collated research on the association between sectors (ISIC – International Standard Industrial classification) and 22 Impact Areas that cover all the SDGs, as well as a framework to enable a contextualisation of impact associations vis-à-vis the impact needs present in the company’s country(ies) of operation.
- Measure sustainability performance: Use the Indicator Library embedded within the tool to review existing metrics for impact measurement. UNEP-FI has collated metrics from reporting standards and frameworks (GRI, SASB, CDP, TCFD), impact investor and development bank resources (IRIS+ and HIPSO), government taxonomies (EU Adaptation and Mitigation Taxonomies) and other sources to support indicator selection and interoperability between frameworks. This indicator library primarily supports use of the tool, but is also a useful standalone resource.
For investors and financial institutions
Use this resource to:
- Identify: Understand the impact areas and topics associated with a corporate client/investee based on company type, sector and context; identify the company’s most significant impact areas.
- Assess: Assess the company’s current practice and performance vis-à-vis its most significant impact areas, by combining the tool’s ‘identification’ outputs with additional data; determine the company’s overall ‘impact status’ as a basis for engagement.
EU Taxonomy
Regulation that sets out performance thresholds for organisations to classify their economic activities as “sustainable” according to European policy objectives.
For organisations
Use this resource to:
- Identify sustainability topics: Find the economic activities that correspond to the organisation and review what the taxonomy says about likely impacts on sustainability. This can be an input into identifying sustainability topics to measure. This regulation is based on research connecting economic activities to likely significant impacts on six environmental objectives. Currently, research related to objectives of climate change mitigation and adaptation are most developed.
For investors and financial institutions
Use this resource to:
- Identify: Find the economic activities that correspond to the financial institution’s activities and review what the taxonomy says about likely impacts on sustainability. This can be an input into identifying sustainability topics to measure. This regulation is based on research connecting economic activities to likely significant impacts on six environmental objectives. Currently, research related to objectives of climate change mitigation and adaptation are most developed.
- Assess: Assess whether underlying assets are sustainable. Underlying assets that fall under the taxonomy regulation will report on the portion of their revenue, capital expenditure and operational expenditure that are ‘taxonomy aligned’, and therefore considered a ‘sustainable investment’ according EU policy objectives.
- Set targets: Set objectives for a portion of the portfolio to be ‘taxonomy-aligned’. Regulation provides investors with a set of performance thresholds that have to be met for an underlying asset to be viewed as operating sustainably in relation to one the EU’s six environmental objectives. Underlying assets that are ‘taxonomy aligned’ are generating sustainable outcomes and are therefore also ‘Benefiting stakeholders’.
Five dimensions of impact
Guidance on the types of data needed to understand and assess impact performance. The IMP community of 2000+ practitioners identified five dimensions of impact that can be broken down into 15 more detailed data categories.
For organisations
Use this resource to:
- Assess impacts: Use the five dimensions as a checklist to ensure the information gathered is sufficient for the decision it will inform (see also the ‘Investment classification’ resource).
For investors and financial institutions
Use this resource to:
- Assess: Use as a checklist to ensure the information gathered is sufficient for the decision it will inform (see also the ‘Investment classification’ resource)