Library | Sustainable Finance Practices

Sustainable financial advice and consulting

Best practices for advisors and consultants to integrate ESG factors into investment and financial strategies, supporting clients in building sustainable portfolios.

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Heartland Initiative

Finance / Corporate Focused NGOs & Think Tanks
Heartland Initiative is a nonprofit investor advisory organisation dedicated to advancing human rights in investment. It collaborates with institutional investors, civil society, and policymakers to address systemic risks and promote responsible investment practices. Heartland offers tailored learning services and fosters environments that integrate human rights considerations into business strategies.
Organisation
2 research items

How to identify human rights risks: A practical guide in due diligence

Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
This guide outlines a structured approach for investors to identify and prioritise human rights risks across countries, sectors, and companies. It supports due diligence through risk mapping, severity assessment, and prioritisation frameworks, promoting responsible investment aligned with international human rights standards.
Research
5 June 2023

Pursuing impact within a portfolio: Insights from institutional asset owners

Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)
This report explores how institutional asset owners integrate impact goals into portfolio strategy. Through four case studies, it examines aligning financial returns with social and environmental outcomes using an impact lens. It highlights investment approaches addressing climate change, health, regional development and systemic inequality across diverse asset classes and geographies.
Research
18 October 2024

Between impact and returns: Private investors and the sustainable development goals

Wealthy private investors increasingly align their portfolios with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), seeking both measurable impact and financial returns. Investors favour SDGs linked to higher expected profits, leading to underinvestment in less profitable goals. Findings are based on portfolio data, surveys, and interviews with 60 high-net-worth individuals.
Research
11 April 2022

How to achieve deforestation-free pensions

Global Canopy
This guide provides investors with a roadmap for creating deforestation-free pension portfolios. It offers strategies and best practices for identifying and mitigating deforestation risks, ensuring responsible investment in pension funds.
Online tool/database

Handbook for the implementation of nature-based solutions for water security: Guidelines for designing an implementation and financing arrangement

This handbook offers operational advice and project preparation guidelines, including hands-on formats that project proponents can use continuously and iteratively to develop the entire business case of NbS, enabling them to go from the idea stage towards an investment proposal or investment project stage that can be effectively assessed by potential investors. To illustrate the use of these guidelines the handbook presents the results of their application to three cases in Europe within the NAIAD project and to one case in Asia that was part of the Water as Leverage for Resilient Cities Asia programme.
Research
13 March 2021

Financing transformations: A guide to green building for green bonds and green loans

Green Building Council of Australia
The report provides a guide to sustainable finance in the real estate sector, focusing on green building projects eligible for green bonds and loans. It details key principles, certification frameworks like BREEAM and LEED, and sustainable finance's role in addressing climate action, resource efficiency, and social impact.
Research
4 November 2024

Accelerating finance for nature: Barriers and recommendations for scaling private sector investment

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
This report assesses the barriers and opportunities for scaling private sector investment in natural capital. It outlines key recommendations, including the establishment of a Nature Finance Accelerator, to drive financial flows towards nature. The study highlights the importance of overcoming low returns, small deal sizes, and high transaction costs to attract private investment.
Research
5 May 2023

From fragmentation to integration: Embedding social issues in sustainable finance

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
The report calls for integrating social risks into financial strategies. It emphasises the interconnectedness of social and environmental issues and recommends enhancing research, standards, and tools to address socio-economic inequalities, promoting financial stability and sustainability.
Research
30 August 2023

An introduction to key ecological concepts, financial opportunities, and risks underpinning aspirations for nature positive

The report introduces key ecological concepts critical to achieving a nature-positive future. It outlines the financial opportunities and risks involved, emphasising the need for collaboration between ecologists and business professionals to effectively implement nature-positive strategies. The report also highlights the challenges and complexities in aligning ecological goals with financial instruments.
Research
31 July 2024

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) sustainability guide for corporate buyers

Transport and Environment
This guide assists corporate buyers in purchasing sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) to reduce their environmental impact. It covers key considerations such as feedstocks, origin, price, emissions calculations, certification, and availability. The guide also highlights different purchasing schemes and best practices for selecting and investing in SAF to ensure genuine sustainability benefits.
Research
1 October 2023

Unstructured data and AI: Fine-tuning LLMs to enhance the investment process

CFA Institute
The report discusses the use of unstructured data and AI, particularly large language models (LLMs), in investment processes. It discusses the benefits of fine-tuning these models to improve investment strategies and includes a case study on using AI in ESG investing.
Research
27 April 2024

An introduction to responsible investment: Biodiversity for asset owners

Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
This introductory guide for asset owners explores the financial risks and opportunities associated with biodiversity loss. It explains the relevance of biodiversity to investment processes and outlines how asset owners can incorporate biodiversity considerations into their responsible investment policies, stewardship practices, and disclosures.
Research
9 April 2024

Considering social factors in pension scheme investments: Guide from the Taskforce on Social Factors

Taskforce on Social Factors
This final report identifies social risks and opportunities that can be addressed by trustees, industry, and policymakers. The guide outlines frameworks of good practice and materiality assessment, with data sources to support the assessment and provides practical assistance to enable consideration of social factors within their investments.
Research
6 March 2024

Can investors save the planet? - NZAMI and fiduciary duty

The report evaluates asset managers' strategies aligning with the Race to Zero goal of limiting global warming while considering the possibility of a different climate scenario. It finds impactful environmental approaches might pose fiduciary challenges. Authors propose revising commitments to enhance climate impact while upholding fiduciary duties.
Research
1 December 2022

Catalytic capital: A key to aligning infrastructure investments with climate mitigation in emerging markets

Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)
This report provides a roadmap for directing more institutional capital toward climate infrastructure financing in emerging markets. It identifies the importance of using catalytic capital and outlines four themes crucial to its effective use: targeting, speed, support, and analysis. The report offers recommendations for how to address climate challenges through targeted catalytic interventions.
Research
27 September 2023
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