This report outlines a blueprint for responsible banking, detailing how banks can embed climate, nature, human rights, and inclusive economy considerations into strategy, governance, client engagement, capital allocation and disclosure. It provides guidance on setting and implementing targets to align portfolios and practices with global sustainability frameworks.

This report analyses how cities can decarbonise buildings by mapping the interdependencies between policy and financial instruments and the barriers they address. It highlights priority actions for cooling, embodied carbon, adaptation and a just transition, outlining pathways that help cities sequence measures to accelerate net zero building outcomes.

China’s transition finance market is expanding to support the decarbonisation of high-emitting industries. The report outlines growth in green and sustainability-linked bonds, emerging transition frameworks, and ongoing debates on coal and gas inclusion, highlighting the need for clearer standards and broader financing tools to meet China’s 2060 climate goals.

This case study explores how Access Bank integrates the UN Principles for Responsible Banking into its operations, advancing green finance, financial inclusion, and gender equality. It highlights the bank’s green bond issuances, ESG frameworks, and stakeholder engagement, offering investors insight into sustainable finance practices within emerging markets.

This review examines how financial sector structures and actors influence sustainability outcomes through a systems lens. It identifies barriers such as inadequate metrics, poor risk integration, and limited understanding of complex dynamics, while highlighting collaboration opportunities between finance and science to align capital flows with long-term ecological resilience.

This article explores the growing interest in deep-sea mining as a source of critical minerals for clean technologies, detailing how it works, its potential economic benefits, and the significant ecological and governance risks it poses. It also examines ongoing international regulatory disputes and alternative solutions such as recycling and circular mineral economies.

The report, Assessing the Materiality of Nature-Related Financial Risks for the UK (April 2024), quantifies how biodiversity loss and environmental degradation could materially affect the UK economy and finance sector. It finds nature-related risks—especially from water scarcity, soil decline, and biodiversity loss—could reduce GDP by up to 12% by the 2030s, exceeding impacts from the Global Financial Crisis or COVID-19.

The report examines the expansion of place-based impact investing (PBII) in the UK since 2021. It outlines how institutional and local investors, supported by public–private partnerships, are aligning financial returns with social and environmental outcomes. The study highlights progress, barriers, and pathways to scaling PBII through collaboration and blended finance.

This 2024 guide, produced by Forum for the Future and B Lab, outlines how businesses can embed climate justice into strategy and operations. It defines principles for equitable community partnerships, offers practical frameworks across internal systems and supply chains, and emphasises trust-building, accountability, and regenerative, long-term collaboration.

This month’s sustainability roundup traces a rapidly evolving landscape in climate finance and accountability, spotlighting the weaknesses exposed by Hurricane Melissa’s disaster-risk finance system alongside new policy frameworks now reshaping sustainable investment. It highlights how vulnerable nations continue to bear the costs of climate impacts, how regulatory reforms such as Australia’s 2035 emissions target and global disclosure regimes are embedding accountability, and how renewed scrutiny of carbon markets is driving the search for credible, incentive-based pathways to real decarbonisation.

Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) is an investor-led initiative providing publicly accessible data and assessments on how companies, banks and sovereigns are managing and aligning with the transition to a low-carbon economy.

This report summarises how asset owners integrate diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) into organisational policies, investment management and stewardship. Drawing on interviews with 21 organisations, it highlights varying maturity levels, regulatory developments, data challenges and best practices shaping DE&I implementation across the pensions and investment industry.

This CGAP technical guide outlines how lenders can apply gender-intentional approaches to credit scoring to expand women’s access to finance without increasing portfolio risk. Using data from AB Bank Zambia and TymeBank South Africa, it demonstrates practical methods for integrating gender analysis, adjusting scorecards, and improving lending outcomes for women.

The report analyses the growth and practices of gender lens investing (GLI) across asset classes. It highlights how institutional investors and impact funds integrate gender equality goals into investment strategies, identifies challenges such as limited data and standardisation, and provides guidance to deepen GLI’s contribution to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality.

This month’s sustainability roundup covers Australia’s new 2035 emissions target, ASIC’s final climate disclosure guidance, and Fortescue’s revised transition plan. It also examines global developments, from ISSB reporting updates and TNFD nature disclosures to Woodside’s gas extension, rising physical climate risks, and evolving ESG policy debates shaping corporate and investor responses.

Lazard offers global financial advisory and asset management services, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, capital markets and investment strategy. Founded in 1848, it serves institutional clients, corporations, governments and high-net-worth individuals across 40+ cities worldwide.