Library | ESG issues

Pollution

Pollution is the contamination of the environment by chemical, physical, or biological agents that alter its natural characteristics. Long-term pollution exposure can cause severe health and environmental impacts. Sustainability efforts focus on reducing pollution by minimising waste, promoting recycling, and converting waste into useful materials. Investors can engage with companies to encourage pollution reduction initiatives, adoption of cleaner technologies, and transparent reporting on environmental impacts.

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Turning the tide: How to finance a sustainable ocean recovery

United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
This report provides guidance for financial institutions on financing a sustainable blue economy. It outlines principles, sector-specific criteria and case studies to support responsible investment in ocean-related sectors including seafood, ports, maritime transport, marine renewable energy and coastal tourism, aligning finance with ocean protection and long-term economic sustainability.
Research
9 June 2021

All Will Rise: A narrative courtroom deck-builder

All Will Rise is a narrative courtroom deck-building video game funded via Kickstarter. Players lead a team investigating environmental harm and build arguments through card-based mechanics to prosecute a powerful corporation for destroying a river, combining investigation, strategy and storytelling in a political crime-thriller setting.
Online tool/database

Nature-based risk assessment: Integrating project-related finance

United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
Guidance from UNEP FI and the Equator Principles on integrating project-related finance into nature-based risk assessments. It outlines frameworks, governance and disclosure expectations to help financial institutions identify, assess and manage biodiversity, water and pollution-related risks at project and portfolio levels.
Research
22 January 2026

Mining and money: Financial fault lines in the energy transition

Rainforest Action Network
This report analyses global financing of transition mineral mining, showing concentrated capital flows, weak financial institution policies, and material environmental and human rights risks. It links bank and investor finance to mining harms across key regions and calls for stronger regulation and safeguards to enable a just energy transition.
Research
3 September 2025

Systems-informed stewardship part II: Bringing a systems perspective to stewardship

This article applies a systems lens to stewardship, arguing that fragmented intermediation and entrenched short-term time horizons undermine sustainability outcomes. It calls for recognising these structural barriers as a critical step toward more effective, systems-informed stewardship.
Article
11 February 2026

IQAir world air quality series

IQAir
The World Air Quality Report is an annual research series assessing global air quality using ground-level PM2.5 monitoring data. It provides consistent country, regional and city-level comparisons, supported by transparent methodology and harmonised datasets to inform policy, research and investment analysis.
Benchmark/series
30 April 2025

IPE Green supply chain

Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE)
The Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs Green Supply Chain Supplier Database tracks environmental compliance of Chinese suppliers. It consolidates government violation records and corporate disclosures to support supply chain due diligence, risk screening, and ESG assessment by investors and companies.
Online tool/database

Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE)

Issue Focused NGOs & Think Tanks
Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs is a China-based environmental non-governmental organisation promoting pollution transparency and corporate accountability. It operates public databases on air, water and supply chain compliance, supporting ESG research, responsible investment, environmental risk analysis, and sustainability decision-making in China.
Organisation
1 research item

WESR: Ocean

United Nations Environment Programme
WESR: Ocean provides high-level insights into ocean-related environmental risks and pressures, including marine ecosystems, pollution and resource use. It supports risk identification and contextual analysis for financial decision-making linked to ocean health, coastal exposure and sustainability considerations.
Online tool/database

WESR: Air Visual

IQAir
The IQAir × UNEP air quality tool aggregates real-time PM2.5 data from thousands of monitors worldwide to show current air pollution exposure and estimates by age group, relative to WHO guidelines. It supports global air quality assessment through an interactive map and hourly updated exposure statistics.
Online tool/database

Historical redlining and cumulative environmental impacts across the United States

This study analyses 202 US cities, linking historic redlining to higher present-day cumulative environmental burdens. Using EJScreen data and modelling, it finds redlined neighbourhoods face significantly greater combined pollution exposures, particularly from traffic, hazardous waste and wastewater sites, with strongest disparities in western regions.
Research
30 December 2025

Fashion’s plastic paralysis: How brands resist change and fuel microplastic pollution

Changing markets foundation
The report examines fashion brands’ continued reliance on synthetic fibres, highlighting how voluntary commitments, lobbying, and weak accountability delay fibre reduction and regulation. It links current business models to rising microplastic pollution and concludes that systemic policy and production changes are required.
Research
24 September 2024

Assessment of the health impacts and costs associated with indoor nitrogen dioxide exposure related to gas cooking in the European Union and the United Kingdom

Universitat Jaume I
The report estimates premature mortality, years of life lost and asthma cases in the EU and UK attributable to indoor nitrogen dioxide from gas cooking. Using modelling of indoor exposures and concentration–response functions, it quantifies associated economic costs and highlights potential health gains from transitioning to cleaner cooking energy
Research
28 October 2024

Long-term impact and biological recovery in a deep-sea mining track

The study finds that deep-sea mining disturbance leaves long-lasting physical impacts, with partial biological recovery after 44 years. Some mobile and sessile fauna have re-established, but communities remain altered. Plume effects are limited, yet track disturbance persists, indicating slow ecosystem recovery and informing future management.
Research
26 March 2025

Sustainable Finance Roundup November 2025: Transition Turning Points and Rising Accountability

This month’s sustainable-finance roundup highlights faster transition momentum, rising physical risks and a tightening focus on accountability. COP30 reinforced expectations for stronger 2035 targets, while national actions underscored diverging paths toward decarbonisation. Markets continued shifting toward clean energy and resilience, and new science made climate harms more visible. With regulatory scrutiny and litigation increasing, transition credibility and real-economy resilience are becoming core drivers of financial risk and investment decisions.
Article
1 December 2025

Transparentem

Finance / Corporate Focused NGOs & Think Tanks
Transparentem is a non-profit organisation that investigates human-rights and environmental abuses — including child labour, forced labour and pollution — across global supply chains. Through detailed field investigations, supply-chain mapping, and engagement with companies, Transparentem pushes for remediation and systemic industry change to ensure fair working conditions and environmental justice.
Organisation
2 research items
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