Library | ESG issues
Targets & Accountability
Targets and accountability are essential for ensuring organisations and governments follow through on commitments to sustainability, climate action, and social responsibility. Setting measurable and transparent targets such as net-zero goals, emissions reductions, diversity benchmarks, and human rights protections allows for tracking progress and holding entities accountable. Clear, data-driven targets strengthen stakeholder trust and help align financial and business strategies with long-term sustainability objectives.
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Stakeholder engagement and science-based targets for nature
This report provides guidance for companies on integrating affected stakeholder perspectives into science-based targets for nature, emphasising Indigenous rights, equity, and due diligence. It outlines who to engage, how to engage, and how to evaluate engagement across the SBTN five-step process.
Banking on business as usual: The energy finance imbalance
The report assesses energy financing by 65 major banks (2021–2024), finding fossil fuel finance more than double sustainable power supply. The energy supply financing ratio stagnates around 0.42:1, far below net-zero benchmarks, with regional disparities and weak translation of climate commitments into financing shifts.
The alignment of companies' sustainability behavior and emissions with global climate targets
The study analyses sustainability reports from major listed companies to assess alignment with Paris climate targets. Using natural language processing, it finds alignment depends on the type of actions taken. Firms prioritising innovation and energy transition outperform those focused on risk mitigation.
Building resilient supply chains: Getting the most out of supplier engagement
The report outlines how climate-related risks threaten supply chains and presents seven practical steps to strengthen resilience through supplier engagement. It stresses clear objectives, data use, prioritisation, incentives and cross-functional collaboration to drive emissions reduction, improve transparency and align procurement with long-term sustainability and risk-management goals.
The use of the Lavender in Gaza and the law of targeting: AI-decision support systems and facial recognition technology
The report analyses Israel’s alleged use of the ‘Lavender’ AI decision-support system and facial recognition in Gaza, assessing compliance with international humanitarian law. It highlights risks from inaccuracy, bias, automation and opacity, concluding that commanders must retain judgement and verification to meet targeting obligations.
Guidance Handbook
ICMA’s June 2025 Guidance Handbook clarifies practical application of Green, Social, Sustainability and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles, covering use of proceeds, governance, reporting, verification and market issues. It supports consistent labelling, transparency and market integrity across sustainable debt instruments.
Exponential Roadmap Initiative
Exponential Roadmap Initiative (ERI) is a global, mission-driven organisation accelerating science-aligned climate action. It works with companies, investors and partners to scale climate solutions, assess climate performance, and support pathways to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 through practical frameworks and collaborative initiatives across business, finance and policy contexts.
Sustainable Finance Roundup December 2025: Nature, Regulation, and the Hardening of Risk
This month’s sustainable finance roundup traces the shift from ambition to enforcement, as climate and nature risks become financial, regulatory and legal realities. It covers Australia’s environmental law reforms, the embedding of climate and nature risk through prudential supervision, disclosure and shareholder pressure, and insurer warnings on the limits of insurability. It also highlights how markets are responding to deforestation and biodiversity risk, and how litigation and regulation are reshaping governance and long-term financial resilience.
Guidance handbook: Sustainability-linked bonds
The ICMA Guidance Handbook (November 2024) consolidates interpretative guidance on Green, Social, Sustainability and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles, covering use of proceeds, reporting, verification, secured bonds and market issues. It supports consistent application and market integrity across sustainable debt markets.
From ‘conflict minerals’ to peace? reviewing mining reforms, gender, and state performance in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
The review assesses how 3T mining reforms in eastern DRC affected state governance and gender inclusion. Findings show mixed results: limited improvements in demarcation, revenue collection and oversight, persistent armed interference, weak accountability, elite-captured cooperatives, and ongoing marginalisation of women.
Integrating ESG and AI: A comprehensive responsible AI assessment framework
The report introduces an ESG-AI framework enabling investors to assess AI-related environmental, social, and governance risks. Drawing on insights from 28 companies, it provides use-case materiality analysis, governance indicators, and deep-dive assessments to support transparent, responsible AI evaluation and investment decisions.
The Other Half of the Transition: Why Livestock Deserves as Much Attention as Energy
This article highlights the major climate impact of livestock and explains why the absence of clear roadmaps, metrics, and financing strategies has left the sector far behind the energy transition. It proposes policy reforms, mitigation hierarchies, and justice-centered pathways to unlock effective and equitable change.
The transition finance playbook: A practical guide for financial institutions
A practical guide outlining how financial institutions can scale transition finance through governance, eligibility criteria, portfolio segmentation, due-diligence enhancements and engagement. It highlights Canadian market context, barriers, and actionable “top tips” to support credible decarbonisation, stewardship and collaboration across the financial system.
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.
Increasing climate ambition, decreasing emissions: The third progress report of the net-zero asset owner alliance
The report outlines the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance’s progress in reducing financed emissions, strengthening target-setting, and expanding climate-solution investments. It highlights updated methodologies, increased engagement with companies and policymakers, and rising member participation, underscoring the need for credible transition pathways and supportive policy environments to advance alignment with 1.5°C goals.
Redefining progress: Global lessons for an Australian approach to wellbeing
A scan of global wellbeing frameworks shows how countries integrate measurement, policymaking and accountability to support long-term social, economic and environmental outcomes. The report outlines lessons for designing an Australian approach that embeds wellbeing across government systems, decision-making and reporting.