The Corporate Plastic Pollution Scorecard is a benchmark series that assesses how large consumer-facing companies address plastic packaging responsibility. It reviews corporate policies, commitments, disclosures, and practices across key areas of packaging design, reuse, recycled content, transparency, recycling support, and producer responsibility, enabling consistent comparison over time.

This month’s sustainable finance article roundup examines a landscape increasingly shaped by geopolitics and climate risk, as near-term fragmentation, energy security, and affordability pressures collide with intensifying long-term threats from climate change, biodiversity loss, and water stress. The works featured analyse how these dynamics are reshaping capital allocation, disclosure, and resilience planning, demonstrating the growing need for sustainable finance to integrate geopolitical risk with real-economy transition.

This article introduces systems thinking and explains how it is reshaping sustainable and impact finance by addressing interconnected systemic risks like climate change and inequality. It outlines four emerging applications; from systemic risk management to systems-informed stewardship, highlighting the implications for investors’ roles, tools, and decision-making.

NatureAlign is a decision-support tool by Nature Finance that helps financial institutions identify, assess and respond to nature-related risks and opportunities by aligning portfolios, strategies and governance with nature-positive outcomes.

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.

KanataQ is a sustainability and ESG solutions marketplace that helps organisations identify, compare, and connect with software and service providers. The platform offers structured listings, trust scores, and market intelligence to support informed procurement and strategy decisions.

openLCA Nexus is an online repository providing access to life cycle assessment databases for environmental and sustainability analysis. It hosts free and licensed datasets from multiple providers, covering energy, materials, agriculture, transport and waste, designed for use within the openLCA software environment.

This article explores how climate change is reshaping fiduciary duty for pension funds, through court cases, legal analysis, and the concept of systemic risk. It introduces the “climate prisoner’s dilemma,” arguing that climate-aware investment may be shifting from discretionary to obligatory for long-term fiduciaries.

Drawing on Australia’s first national study of board-level engagement with nature, this article shows how directors are treating nature as a material governance and financial issue. It highlights how boards are extending climate governance systems to manage nature-related risks, adopt frameworks like TNFD, and build resilience and long-term value despite policy uncertainty.

The United Nations SDGs platform (sdgs.un.org) is an online hub for the 2030 Agenda and 17 Sustainable Development Goals, offering goals, targets, indicators, events, publications and global actions to track and support SDG implementation. It also includes registries of voluntary commitments and multi-stakeholder partnerships.

Minerals4EU is an EU-supported initiative that created a harmonised minerals intelligence network and web portal, offering standardised European mineral resource data, a Minerals Yearbook and analytical studies. It supports policy decisions and raw materials supply security through shared georesource information across European geological surveys.

This report outlines practical tools to help mining and metals companies integrate circular economy principles. It explains business drivers, regulatory context, metrics, and case studies, supporting financial and non-financial business cases for improved resource efficiency, value retention, and responsible production.

This report argues that embedding circular economy principles within the Sustainable Development Goals could revive stalled progress. It outlines five global policy priorities and proposes a 2050 blueprint linking circularity, inclusive growth, trade, finance and standards to post-2030 development agendas.

China is developing unified national sustainability disclosure standards aligned with ISSB Standards. Led by the Ministry of Finance, the Basic Standard (Trial) was issued in November 2024, with climate disclosures proposed in 2025. Application is initially voluntary, with phased expansion and potential mandatory adoption by 2030.

The report outlines an investor-led 10-year vision for a responsible, resilient mining sector. It sets goals to align capital, governance and stewardship with social and environmental standards, supporting mineral supply for the low-carbon transition while managing risk and long-term value.

The report reviews recent evidence on links between sustainability performance and company valuation, finding growing but uneven market recognition. Strong strategies can improve resilience, EBITDA and capital costs, while inaction raises long-term financial risk amid evolving disclosure and regulation.