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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Governance for climate and development: Insights from World Bank Group Country Climate and Development Reports covering 103 economies
This report synthesises insights from 103 Country Climate and Development Reports, detailing how climate change risks threaten global growth and jobs. It emphasises that climate action requires annual investments of 1.8 per cent of GDP and stronger governance frameworks to bridge the gap between national ambition and effective implementation.
More than net-zero: Responsible corporate board activity & the just transition
This report examines the role of corporate boards in advancing a rights-respecting just transition. It details regulatory pressures, international guidance, and collaborative frameworks for integrating human rights into climate strategy. While highlighting best practices through case studies, it identifies significant governance gaps in current corporate implementation and accountability.
Net zero stewardship toolkit
This toolkit provides institutional investors with a foundational framework to enhance net zero stewardship. It details a five-step process involving portfolio analysis, alignment criteria setting, engagement strategies for priority companies, and voting policy development. The guide aims to help investors halve emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050.
Climate in the boardroom: 2024 proxy season
This report analyses the 2024 climate proxy voting performance of the four largest asset managers, finding widespread failure to support decarbonisation and climate finance proposals. It reveals a significant divergence between these managers and public pension funds, particularly concerning director accountability during the 2024 ExxonMobil shareholder rights dispute.
Financial institution net-zero transition plans: Fundamentals, recommendations, and guidance
This report provides a voluntary framework for financial institutions to develop science-based net-zero transition plans. It introduces ten components across five themes, focusing on four financing strategies — climate solutions, aligned entities, aligning entities, and managed phaseout — to support the 1.5°C-aligned real-economy transition.
The state of net-zero finance
This report examines the fracturing of voluntary climate alliances amidst rising legal and political pressure, particularly in the United States. While many banks and asset managers are retreating from collective net-zero commitments, asset owners and European institutions remain resilient. It advocates for integrating climate risk into core fiduciary duties.
What the NZBA leaves behind: Stocktake on banks’ net zero interim targets
This report analyses the dissolution of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in October 2025. It examines how legal pressures and shifting strategic priorities led to softened climate guidelines. While major US banks withdrew, the study find that most European institutions have maintained their individual decarbonisation and sustainable financing targets.
Science-Based Targets for Nature 2.0: a practical route to credible action on nature
Science-Based Targets for Nature 2.0 provides an updated framework for companies to set and implement credible nature-related targets. It introduces expanded coverage for land and freshwater, aligns with TNFD disclosures, and offers practical tools for assessment and prioritisation to help organisations manage environmental impacts effectively.
Adaptation & resilience impact: A measurement framework for investors
This report provides a practical framework for investors to assess the positive impact of climate adaptation and resilience investments. It applies the 'Five Dimensions of Impact' to private finance, categorising outcomes across people, planet, and economy. The guidance offers clear metrics to help scale and manage adaptation portfolios.
Climate City Contract 2030 climate neutrality investment plan: Guidance and explanations
This guidance document assists Mission Cities in developing a 2030 Climate Neutrality Investment Plan. It provides a systematic framework to quantify capital requirements, identify funding sources, and establish enabling policies. The plan integrates with the Climate City Contract to mobilise investment for city-wide decarbonisation efforts.
Circular solutions to achieve nature targets: circular economy as an enabler for Responsible Banking
This guidance details how circular economy strategies help banks achieve nature-related targets under the Principles for Responsible Banking. It identifies specific circular interventions across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, highlighting the business case for financing transitions that reduce resource dependency and manage nature-related physical and transition risks.
Conceptual framework for sustainability risk integration
This report presents a jurisdiction-neutral framework for integrating sustainability risks into bank management. Treating sustainability as a transversal risk driver, it outlines seven core elements including risk strategy, governance, and appetite. Data shows 90 per cent of surveyed banks seek such a structured approach to bridge implementation gaps.
Understanding I-PEPs: a framework for steering portfolio decarbonisation and supporting real-economy transition
This policy note introduces Indicators for Portfolio-related Emission Performance (I-PEPs). Developed for the Green Finance Alliance, these performance-based metrics enable financial institutions to steer portfolio decarbonisation. The framework focuses on year-on-year emission changes, providing a resource-efficient alternative to traditional accounting-based financed emissions for real-economy transition.
How cool is your bank? An analysis of how well South Africa’s big five banks understand and manage climate risk
This research assesses South Africa’s five largest banks’ management of climate risk. It finds that while climate commitments have accumulated, capital movement remains slow. Nedbank leads the rankings, but the sector generally lacks credible transition plans, specific exclusion policies, and transparent governance mechanisms to ensure accountability for decarbonisation targets.
Regulating finance for biodiversity: An assessment for the Global Biodiversity Framework, 2026
This report assesses financial regulations across eleven jurisdictions against Global Biodiversity Framework targets. It identifies a significant implementation gap, finding no jurisdiction requires full alignment of financial flows with biodiversity goals. Recommendations include integrating biodiversity into monetary policy, implementing binding double materiality disclosures, and establishing mandatory portfolio-alignment targets.
US states’ largest companies quiet on climate policy
InfluenceMap research finds 67% of the largest US state-headquartered companies are unengaged in climate policy. Despite corporate climate goals, major firms, utilities, and trade associations often remain silent or actively oppose state-level energy transitions and climate legislation in key regions like New York and California.
