Guidance

The Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance, steered by UN DESA, reached consensus on a common definition of Sustainable Development Investing (SDI) to help establish norms that differentiate investment strategies.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Implement: Refer to key definitions and recommended practices when embedding impact management into strategy, governance and management approach.

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.

The overall objective of the Initiative is to advance human rights and positive outcomes for people through investor stewardship. The Initiative will primarily seek change through investors’ use of influence with portfolio companies. The following three expectations will be set for engagement focus companies:

• Fully implement the UNGPs –the guardrail of corporate conduct on human rights
• Align their political engagement with their responsibility to respect human rights
• Deepen progress on the most severe human rights issues in their operations and across their value

Use this resource to:

• Identify: Select the companies and sectors that investors can engage with, in support of the Initiative’s overall objectives. This includes identifying the sectors and companies where human rights and impacts are most severe.
• Implement: Determine where investors within the Initiative can influence (through stewardship) sectors and companies, to advance respect for human rights.

Guidance on how an investor can develop a responsible investment policy.

Use this resource to:

• Governance: Develop investment policies and incorporate sustainability considerations into the investment process.

This report recommends a set of sector-specific, SDG-related metrics by drawing on metrics from existing standard setters and benchmarks. It was published by the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance, a group of 30 large investment firms that aims to scale-up long-term finance and investment in sustainable development. The GISD is steered by UN DESA.

Use this resource for the following Actions of Impact Management:

• Communicate: Include recommended SDG-related metrics in stakeholder disclosures.

Outlines the key stages of an assurance engagement, expectations of assurance professionals, and common types of information included in Extended External Reporting (EER) assurance engagements. The guidance has been developed to support assurers who are applying the ISAE 3000.

Use this resource to:

• Verification, assurance and certification: This guidance is not aimed at organisations but provides detailed information on issues that arise when assuring EER such as sustainability performance information, which organisations may still find useful.

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.

Guidance that contains disclosure recommendations for information on the material financial impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities, including those related to the global transition to a lower-carbon economy. The TCFD recommendations are structured around the four pillars of Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, and Metrics and Targets.

Use this resource to:

• Communicate: Follow recommendations to structure climate-related financial disclosures. Other voluntary standards can be used in conjunction with TCFD recommendations.

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.