Sustainability
The Case for Including Data Stewardship in ESG
Amid all the attention to environmental, social, and governance factors in investing, better known as ESG, there has been relatively little emphasis on governance, and even less on data governance. This is a significant oversight that needs to be addressed, as data governance has a crucial role to play in achieving environmental and social goals.
We Can’t Fight Climate Change Without Fighting for Gender Equity
Gender equity and environmental sustainability may seem like unrelated issues, but research shows that they are in fact closely intertwined. Women and other underserved groups are disproportionately impacted by the global climate crisis, but they are also uniquely positioned to lead the fight for sustainability. In this piece, the authors offer six strategies to help […]
Making Sustainability-Linked Bonds More Impactful
Sustainability-linked bonds are a promising pillar of sustainable finance that can help raise the funding needed to underpin successful energy transitions in developing economies. The bonds’ structure as well as how they are regulated will need to evolve to meet the demands of a fast-growing and maturing market. Read full article on IFC.org
With open data, frontline communities and companies can build climate resilience
It’s an unfortunate truth: Communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change—many of them located in developing countries and near the operating spheres of infrastructure companies—often have the least access to the information that could help them strengthen their climate resilience. This is a problem of global scale because failure to address local-level climate […]
6 Reasons Why Social Metrics Matter in Sustainability-Linked Finance
Newsflash: Sustainability-Linked Finance (SLF) isn’t just about climate. In fact, leading infrastructure companies like Brazil-based energy firm Neoenergia and global mining consortium, Anglo American are embracing the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure their social performance, as part of their SLF frameworks. These social metrics must meet strict requirements to ensure relevance, benchmarkability, […]
Social or stakeholder? The S in ESG is evolving to encompass more than social considerations
It is frequently asserted that the S in ESG is difficult to define and monitor for impact. BNP Paribas’ 2019 global ESG survey shows that 46% of investors surveyed deemed the ‘S’ to be the most challenging to analyze and incorporate into investing strategies. I frequently made light of the fact that ‘social’ was the […]
Lifting barriers to gender-responsive infrastructure
From a macro-economic perspective, applying a gender-lens to infrastructure development would increase the total GDP in OECD countries by 2.5% by 2050. Developing safe and quality infrastructure that is gender-responsive is therefore vital to an inclusive green economy. While good practices and actions exist, many countries still face multi-faceted challenges, ranging from awareness and capacity to […]
Biodiversity Finance for Infrastructure Companies in Emerging Markets: How to Move from Objectives to Actions
Halting degradation and restoring biodiversity represents an important business opportunity for infrastructure companies, and emerging markets seeking to create new green jobs. This opportunity, estimated at over $6.5 trillion per year, is expected to generate more than 204 million new jobs by 2030. To help companies and investors identify opportunities for biodiversity finance, IFC has […]
The quest to fill the infrastructure financing gap for people and planet
After spending two weeks at COP27, something that struck me is the triad of urgent needs: supporting the transition to net-zero economies, protecting emerging and developing economies from mounting and increasingly severe climate risks, and promoting universal access to basic services for millions of households around the globe that are left behind. Low-carbon, climate-smart infrastructure […]
Potential Role of Nature-Based Infrastructure (NBI) in Sustainable Cities
Urban areas need a variety of assets called social infrastructure combined with roads and buildings. Nature-Based Infrastructure (NBI) solutions harness nature to provide infrastructure service. Nature-based solutions take inspiration from forests, mangroves, wetlands, and grasslands, and the resultant can be engineered or grey structures. Apart from functioning as a basic infrastructure, it enables and supports […]
Predictions and protection: can software and data improve ESG in mining?
The mining industry remains one of the world’s biggest polluters, yet it remains a cornerstone of the world’s industries. Digital and data will play a key role in supporting miners to execute sustainability roadmaps, including through providing greater visibility across asset performance and operations, and better monitoring of energy and water consumption. Giles Crosse investigates […]
Sustainability: A Journey, Not A Destination
It’s amply clear that building resilience with an eye on sustainable growth is the only way forward in an increasingly uncertain world. Sustainability has already been a priority in emerging Europe. The devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and more recently the extreme drought hitting much of Europe, potentially the worst […]
