Library | Sustainable Finance Practices
Stakeholder engagement and advocacy
Stakeholder engagement and advocacy are components of effective stewardship. Resources promoting collaboration and advocacy efforts among financial institutions and their key stakeholders, with a focus on driving positive systemic change. Stakeholders include customers, regulators, policy-makers, other investors and industry groups, communities, First Nation peoples, unions, and civil society organisations.
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A practitioner's perspective - from obstacles to outcomes: Enhancing effectiveness in stewardship and engagement
This report identifies barriers to effective investor stewardship and engagement, highlighting challenges such as unclear definitions, resource constraints, and ineffective reporting. It outlines practical solutions from WHEB, recommending clearer alignment of engagement objectives with client mandates and prioritising measurable outcomes over activity metrics to deliver long-term client value.
The purpose of investor stewardship
This paper critically examines investor stewardship, shifting from traditional shareholder-focused governance towards "enlightened stewardship." It advocates balancing fiduciary duties with broader societal and environmental considerations. Analysing the evolution of the UK Stewardship Code, it highlights a systemic shift to integrate sustainability and stakeholder concerns alongside financial returns for long-term value creation.
Investing in a pollution free ocean
The report explores how ocean pollution poses financial, legal and reputational risks to businesses, particularly land-based sectors. It identifies data gaps as a barrier to effective decision-making and highlights opportunities in green chemistry, data innovation and sustainable finance. It recommends integrating ocean health into corporate and financial strategies.
Understanding company-community relations toolkit
This toolkit provides a structured approach for companies to understand the basis for community support and how to measure perceptions of support. It enables companies to identify the reasons why community support may be lacking at a project or operation and develop targeted approaches for improving company-community relationships.
First Nations Cultural Heritage Alliance
First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance (FNHPA) is a national coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations dedicated to strengthening laws, policies, and procedures for recognising, respecting, protecting, and celebrating First Nations cultural heritage in Australia. FNHPA collaborates with government and industry to modernise protections and promote best practices in cultural heritage management.
Accountability Framework
The Accountability Framework guides financial institutions on how to establish policies for responsible lending and investment in the food, agribusiness, and forestry sectors. It also helps financial institutions to screen and engage their clients and portfolios to fulfil these policies. It also assists with assessing environmental and social risk and performance in investment portfolios, and supports company engagement.
Channeling private finance into habitat banking schemes in England
This case study outlines the use of hybrid bonds to finance organic dairy farms. It provides investors with insights into sustainable agriculture investments that promote environmental stewardship and offer attractive financial returns.
Investment blueprint: Transforming degraded land into productive forests through blended finance
This case study offers a blueprint for impact investment in sustainable cocoa supply chains. It highlights strategies for improving environmental and social outcomes in cocoa production, providing investors with opportunities to support sustainable agriculture while achieving financial returns.
Conservation investment blueprint: Forest Resilience Bond developed based on the case study of Blue Forest Conservation
This blueprint provides a model for using blended finance to support agroforestry projects. It illustrates how investors can combine public and private capital to develop sustainable agroforestry practices, achieving both economic and environmental benefits.
Conservation investment blueprint: Smallholder forestry vehicle - Kilifi, Kenya
This blueprint provides investors with a framework for supporting community forestry projects. It emphasises the role of community engagement in sustainable forest management, offering strategies to achieve both financial returns and conservation outcomes.
Investor expectations for corporate just transition planning
The report outlines investor expectations for corporate just transition planning, offering a framework for assessing companies' strategies in transitioning to a net zero economy. It highlights key principles, including stakeholder engagement, economic stability, and social equity. Investors are advised to evaluate transparency, governance, and worker support measures to ensure responsible and sustainable corporate transitions.
Conservation investment blueprint: Public-private partnership for marine protected areas developed based on the case study of blue finance
The report outlines a conservation investment blueprint using public-private partnerships (PPPs) to manage marine protected areas (MPAs). Blue Finance structures collaborative management agreements and sustainable financing mechanisms to enhance marine biodiversity, support local economies, and improve climate resilience. The model combines impact investment, tourism revenues, and government collaboration for long-term MPA sustainability.
Introducing a standardised framework for escalating engagement with companies
ShareAction’s report introduces a standardised escalation framework for investors to engage with companies on environmental and social issues. It outlines an escalation toolkit and pathway to ensure structured, transparent, and time-bound engagement. The framework aims to enhance investor accountability, drive systemic change, and improve corporate sustainability practices through clear expectations, reporting, and enforcement mechanisms.
UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance: Policy engagement guidelines
This guideline released in 2023 outline principles for asset owners to integrate net-zero commitments into public policy engagement. The framework emphasises accountability, active participation, consistency, and transparency in climate advocacy. Asset owners are urged to engage policymakers to support the transition to a low-carbon economy and ensure alignment with fiduciary duties.
Building disaster- and climate-resilient infrastructure through public–private partnerships
The report discusses leveraging public–private partnerships (PPPs) to build disaster- and climate-resilient infrastructure in Southeast Asia, addressing funding gaps, enhancing regulatory frameworks, and integrating resilience measures. It highlights Australian practices, aligning climate, disaster, and inclusion goals for sustainable infrastructure development.
Decarbonisation investment solutions for sectors: A discussion paper on Sector Transition Plans and their importance to investors
The report from the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) discusses the development and importance of sector transition pathways to support Australia’s decarbonisation. It highlights how clear pathways aligned with the Paris Agreement can guide investment, minimise risks, and foster collaboration among investors, governments, and companies to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.