Library | Sustainable Finance Practices

Impact measurement and verification

Resources for developing metrics and frameworks to measure, monitor, implement and verify the environmental, social, and financial impacts of investments.

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Social finance primer: A guide to the evolving role of measurement and evaluation in the social finance ecosystem

American Evaluation Association (AEA)
This report by the American Evaluation Association’s Social Finance TIG outlines the evolving role of measurement and evaluation within the social finance ecosystem. It explains key concepts in impact investing, frameworks for assessing outcomes, and the intersection between evaluation and social impact measurement, offering resources for practitioners.
Research
1 April 2024

Place-based impact investing: Emerging impact and insights

Impact Investing Institute
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.
Research
20 May 2024

System of environmental-economic accounting ecosystem accounting series

United Nations (UN)
The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is an international benchmark series that integrates economic and environmental data to measure the interdependence between nature and the economy. It provides a consistent statistical framework for assessing natural assets, ecosystem services, and environmental impacts to support sustainable policy and decision-making across nations.
Benchmark/series

State of climate action benchmark series

World Resources Institute
The State of Climate Action benchmark series tracks global progress toward limiting warming to 1.5°C. Produced by Systems Change Lab and partner organisations, it translates the Paris Agreement into measurable sectoral targets and indicators, offering an annual assessment of the pace and scale of climate action across major emitting sectors and finance systems.
Benchmark/series

Empowering women, building sustainable assets: Strengthening the depth of gender lens investing across asset classes

UN Women: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of 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.
Research
1 January 2024

Phenix Capital Group

Commercial Research Providers
Phenix Capital Group is an Amsterdam-based impact investing intelligence and advisory firm. It helps institutional investors and fund managers access curated impact fund data, conduct impact due diligence, and develop financial-first impact strategies tied to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Organisation
1 research item

The future of emissions

This report proposes using firm-level emission futures contracts to better measure and incentivise real environmental impact from ESG investing. It finds that current backward-looking ESG ratings fail to predict emission reductions and may misallocate capital to higher-polluting firms. Market-based, forward-looking emission futures could improve measurement, incentives, and investment impact.
Research
30 January 2024

Impact-linked finance: Learning from eight years and ideas for the future

Roots of Impact
This report by Roots of Impact (2024) reviews eight years of experience implementing Impact-Linked Finance (ILF), a structuring approach that rewards measurable social or environmental outcomes by linking financial terms to impact performance. It outlines ILF’s evolution, design principles, effectiveness benchmarks, and opportunities to scale through collaboration and new impact-linked instruments.
Research
24 June 2024

Volatile temperatures and their effects on equity returns and firm performance

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
This report summarises research on US firms’ exposure to temperature variability and its financial effects. It shows that volatile temperatures reduce profitability, affect consumer demand and labour productivity, and influence investor attention. Portfolios exposed to higher variability underperform, indicating temperature volatility is a material climate risk for firms and investors.
Research
6 December 2024

Grantham Foundation

Finance / Corporate Focused NGOs & Think Tanks
Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment supports climate innovation, environmental research and impact investing. Through its grant and investment programmes (such as its venture arm, Neglected Climate Opportunities), it backs early-stage technologies in carbon capture, clean energy, soil health and ecosystem conservation globally.
Organisation
1 research item

NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business

Finance / Corporate Focused NGOs & Think Tanks
NYU Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business (CSB) conducts applied research, education and engagement to embed environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices into core business strategy. It helps leaders quantify sustainability’s financial value, offers executive certificates, and develops tools to assess materiality and carbon impact.
Organisation
1 research item

Evaluation project on the effects of engagement

Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF)
The report by Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) evaluates how engagement by external asset managers has affected investee companies from 2017–2022. Using causal inference analysis across over 26,000 engagements, it finds positive links between engagement and improvements in corporate value, governance, decarbonisation, and diversity.
Research
27 June 2024

Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF)

Government Sponsored / Multilateral Organisations
Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is an independent administrative institution in Japan. It manages and invests pension reserve funds under Japan’s Employees’ Pension Insurance and National Pension Acts. GPIF seeks long-term, diversified returns while emphasising ESG investment and stewardship in public pension finance.
Organisation
1 research item

Integrating Nature into Finance: Laying the foundations to expand the Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy to drive positive environmental outcomes in the agriculture and land sectors

Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI)
This report summarises how Australia’s Sustainable Finance Taxonomy could be expanded to agriculture, forestry and land management, proposing draft criteria for biodiversity protection, sustainable water use, and pollution control. It aligns with global biodiversity goals to guide investment and lending that support nature-positive outcome.
Research
9 September 2025

Drawdown Explorer

Project Drawdown
Drawdown Explorer is an interactive platform that catalogues climate mitigation solutions, ranking them by their emissions impact, cost, and readiness.
Online tool/database

The impact of physical and transition climate risk on asset valuation

EDHEC Climate Institute
This report analyses the interaction between physical and transition climate risks, showing their inverse relationship and implications for asset valuation. Using an extended DICE model, it quantifies how abatement policies affect costs and damages, links findings to SSP/RCP scenarios, and highlights valuation headwinds for global equities under varying decarbonisation pathways.
Research
11 April 2024
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