The Impact Management Platform launches new resources to help clarify sustainability topics and industry classifications as it enters new phase.

The Impact Management Platform has published two new resources for standard-setters and market actors that shed light on the use of sustainability topics and industry classifications in the context of impact management:

• The Naming and Classification of Sustainability Topics in the Context of Impact Management: An analytical review.

This paper examines the naming and classification of sustainability topics in sustainability-related resources, exploring the variations that emerge across widely used international frameworks. It reveals significant differences in how sustainability topics are named and categorised, which can impede the clarity and precision required for effective impact management.

The review makes recommendations aimed at standard-setters and providers of impact management resources to improve the coherence and interoperability of impact management resources. It is accompanied by a Structured Inventory of sustainability topics, a mapping that allows users to navigate sustainability topics across 33 major sustainability-related resources. Find out more here.

• Industry Classifications in the Context of Impact Management Uses, challenges and recommendations.

This paper explains the significance of industry classifications in the context of impact management, explores current challenges faced by users of industry classifications for impact management purposes and offers a series of recommendations to address them.

Industry classifications are a critical building block in the management of sustainability issues and are used across both public and private sectors for multiple purposes. But the proliferation of industry classifications by public and private market actors impedes connectivity across resources, and industry classifications are not always fit for purpose for impact management. The paper provides recommendations on the design and the interoperability of industry classifications, whilst addressing the main stakeholder groups involved. Find out more here.

These reviews can help leading providers of impact management resources work to create a more coherent and integrated system that supports market actors in effectively addressing sustainability challenges.

New phase for the Impact Management Platform

The Impact Management Platform was launched in 2021 to drive clarity and to foster a more coherent ecosystem of standards, frameworks and other resources for managing sustainability-related impacts, growing to a group of 18 partners and 1 observer since launch. The Partners in the Platform, in its first phase, focused on defining impact and impact management, making the case for impact management and mapping how current sustainability related frameworks and resources can support the practice.

As the Partners of the Impact Management Platform move on to the next phase, they have renewed their commitment to collectively working to mainstream the practice of impact management by agreeing to a Phase II of the Platform. In this next phase, running from 2025 to 2027, the Partners will continue on their mission to cultivate an ecosystem of sustainability-related standards, frameworks and guidance that enables businesses, investors and financial institutions to manage their impacts on people and the natural environment.

The Partners of the Impact Management Platform have nominated the Capitals Coalition to serve as new rotating co-chair, alongside UNEP FI, the hosting co-chair.

About the Partners and Observer

Partners working together through the Platform include B Lab, Capitals Coalition, CDP, Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG), International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Foundation for Valuing Impacts (IFVI), International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), Social Value International (SVI), Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), UN Global Compact (UNGC) and World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA).

The IFRS Foundation is an observer to the Platform.