Positive Impact: Enabling investors to achieve positive impact against the Sustainable Development Goals
Why positive impact matters
The Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement have given the private sector welcome clarity about what success for truly sustainable development looks like over coming decades.
They have also prompted the emerging realisation that for business models to thrive long into the future, they will need to be ‘net positive’. This means they will need to have a greater positive impact on society and the environment than the costs they impose.
Financial institutions, driven by demand from various of their customer segments, are therefore looking for commercially grounded ways to orientate their portfolios towards businesses that have a positive overall impact. Yet they face significant challenges in navigating the complexity of what this means in practice.
What is CISL is doing about it?
Decision-makers in business, government and finance need help to understand how to measure and prioritise positive impact in the context of the natural and social systems represented by both the Sustainable Development Goals and the transition to a net zero carbon economy. They need multi-disciplinary expertise that is authoritative, independent and worthy of their trust.
Against this backdrop, CISL convenes industry groups to develop commercial strategies and performance metrics that help financial institutions embed business change with confidence. We also work with financial regulators and policymakers to ensure that planned interventions orientate the market appropriately towards enabling greater allocation to positive impact.