Analyse the most significant impacts of your banks’ products and services on society, the environment and the economy. Then identify where your bank can realize the greatest positive impacts and reduce significant negative impacts.

Conducting an in-depth impact analysis is the first step to successfully implementing the Principles for Responsible Banking. Banks should:

  • Determine their scope for impact analysis
  • Review your portfolio composition. Consider the proportional composition of your portfolio globally and per geographical scope (% sectors and % type of customers)
  • Understand context, i.e., what the most relevant challenges and priorities related to sustainable development in the countries/ regions in which the bank operates are
  • Run an analysis to identify the most significant positive and negative impacts of the bank’s products and services (not internal operational impacts)
  • Prioritise the 2 most significant impact areas, by engaging with internal and external stakeholders
  • Measure your performance: identify which sectors & industries as well as types of customers financed or invested in are causing the strongest actual positive or negative impacts and assess the performance of these, using appropriate indicators related to significant impact areas that apply to your bank’s context

    Signatory banks can find training, peer learning and tools to help with this step in the Members Area.

    Guidance on Impact Analysis
    1. Download the Interactive Guidance for impact analysis and target setting, which includes the rationale, requirements, and examples. The guidance will be updated regularly and we encourage banks to send us examples and resources that can be useful to everyone.
    2. Read the UNEP FI Impact Protocol for Banks, which provides a step-by-step overview of how to analyse and manage bank portfolio impacts as per UNEP FI’s holistic impact approach and in conformity with the requirements of the Principles for Responsible Banking.
    Portfolio Impact Analysis Tool for Banks

    Developed by banks, under the leadership of the UNEP FI, the Portfolio Impact Analysis Tool for Banks is an interactive input-output workflow which requires users to input data to describe their portfolio and to reflect their current impact performance. The Tool uses a set of in-built impact mappings to produce a number of outputs, in particular a set of impact profiles by business line. It guides the bank to identify its most significant impact areas and determine priorities, setting the basis for strategy development and target-setting.

    • Find the Tool Modules, User Guides and Demo Versions here
    • Find a presentation of all Tool Modules here
    Watch the introduction to the UNEP FI Toolkit for Impact Management and PRB Principle 2 implementation below:

    • Download the slides from the webinar here