Library | Sustainable Finance Practices
Product development and trends
Insights into the creation and evolution of sustainable financial products, such as managed funds, green bonds, and ESG-linked loans, highlight innovations aligned with sustainability goals and benchmark evolving practices, consumer demand, and stakeholder expectations.
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Rate the raters 2023: ESG ratings at a crossroads
This report explores the current landscape of ESG ratings. Investors are the primary customers for ESG ratings products and drivers of their evolution. Fifty-two percent of corporates and fifty-nine percent of investors have moderate trust that ESG ratings accurately reflect ESG performance.
Unused tools: How central banks are fueling the climate crisis
This report dissects the role of central banks in fossil fuel finance and climate change, presenting 10 criteria for assessment and analysing 12 central banks worldwide. While there is increased recognition among global central banks of the severity of climate change, they continue to prop up fossil fuels and largely maintain an industrial structure that uncritically exacerbates the climate crisis.
Renewable energy and human rights benchmark: Key findings from the wind and solar sectors
The 2023 benchmark report assesses the world’s most influential companies in the wind and solar sectors. It aims to encourage greater respect for human rights through recommendations on transparency, anti-corruption, and worker protections. The report reveals progress and areas of concern and offers guidance for companies, investors, and policy-makers.
Market review of environmental impact claims of retail investment funds in Europe
This report explores the environmental impact claims made by European retail investment funds and assesses their accuracy and possible ramifications. Findings reveal a high prevalence of misleading claims and a need for better guidance and regulation to address the issue. Short and long-term recommendations are proposed.
Are corporate biodiversity commitments consistent with delivering ‘nature-positive’ outcomes? A review of ‘nature-positive’ definitions, company progress and challenges
This article examine the emerging trend of "nature-positive" in business and large corporations. The authors propose key criteria to distinguish 'nature-positive' approaches from previous iterations, analyse company sustainability reports, and examine progress from 2016 to 2021.
Finance and climate change: A comprehensive climate assessment of the world’s largest financial institutions
An analysis of the top 30 global financial institutions exposes a notable absence of immediate action on climate change. While pledging net-zero targets by 2050, their plans lack focus and lack measurable short-term actions. Urgent reshaping of activities is imperative for these institutions to effectively transition to a net-zero future.
Impact investor guide 2024
The Impact Investor Guide 2024 offers insights into the latest developments in impact investing with a comprehensive look across various asset classes and geographies examining how impact funds balance impact and financial returns. It features valuable insights from key industry figures and examines the challenges the sector faces.
Impact investing 2.0: The way forward
This research aims to provide insights on the rapidly evolving impact investing landscape. The report is based on a survey of 12 high-performing impact investing funds that represent a diversity of asset classes, objectives, geographies, and impact areas.
Truth in impact: A Tideline guide to using the impact investment label
This report provides insights on sustainable investing labelling. Investors can self-classify and maintain market integrity through clear, accurate labelling backed by independent verification. The report offers a proprietary Framework for Impact Labeling, case studies, and observations about sustainable investing.
Environmental beta or how institutional investors think about climate change and fossil fuel risk
This report examines how institutional investors think about climate change and fossil fuel risk. It finds that investors consider these issues subjectively and are primarily concerned with short-term investment horizons. The report argues that understanding investor perspectives is crucial for enhanced mechanisms both to mitigate GHG emissions and minimise climate change-related financial instability.
The purpose action gap: The business imperative of ESG
This report examines the gap between what consumers and brands believe and how they act when it comes to purpose and sustainability. Based on studies of 2,500 consumers and interviews with 125 large consumer companies, the report offers valuable insights for businesses looking to meet consumer and investor expectations.
Sustainable voting behaviour of asset managers: Do they walk the walk?
This paper analyses a decade of voting data with more than 20 million observations to investigate asset manager characteristics that influence environmental, social and governance (ESG) voting patterns. Asset managers mostly vote against social and environmental proposals. Despite increased attention to sustainability, asset managers hardly voted in favour of these proposals.
Wealthy private investors and socially responsible investing: The influence of reference groups
The study investigates how wealthy private investors engage with socially responsible investing (SRI) and how reference groups influence their investment behaviour. Qualitative data from 55 interviews with high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and industry experts show that while family members emphasize profit, fellow SRI-oriented HNWIs prioritise similarity and reputation.
The hidden risk in state pensions: Analysing state pensions’ responses to the climate crisis in proxy voting
This report analyses the proxy voting strategies of 19 state pensions, as well as the five New York City Comptroller systems, managing over US$2 trillion in assets. Results reveal that most pensions failed to address climate-related financial risk, especially in areas such as lobbying, environmental justice, and Indigenous rights.
Child-lens investing framework
This report introduces the Child-Lens Investing Framework, an approach to impact investing designed to guide investors to invest using a child-centric lens. The report provides an overview of the framework's various components and explores its alignment with leading responsible and impact investing standards and frameworks.
Child-lens investing framework: Private equity and debt investor toolkit
The toolkit provides guidelines on investing with a child-lens impact strategy, including a child-lens taxonomy, reflection, contribution, and assessment. Six investors tested and refined the framework with case studies.