Achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals requires market participants to understand and improve their sustainability impacts. This is impact management. Coherent standards and guidance are key to mainstreaming impact management, as well as ongoing research and development to address gaps.
What is the Impact Management Platform?
The Impact Management Platform is a collaboration between leading providers of public good standards, frameworks, tools, and guidance for managing sustainability impacts (see Platform Partners below). Through the Platform, initiatives will work together to identify opportunities to consolidate existing sustainability resources, collectively address gaps, and coordinate with policymakers and regulators to support the mainstreaming of impact management.
“Mainstreaming impact management across business and finance is critical for achieving the SDGs and essential to future-proofing business. UNEP FI is delighted to be joining forces with its peers to work towards a complete and coherent system of norms and resources for impact management” – Eric Usher, Head, UNEP FI
Platform resources & deliverables
As a starting point, the Impact Management Platform has released a website to support practitioners to manage their sustainability impacts. The site contains:
- An overview of the actions of impact management.
- Links to standards and guidance designed for each action. Where options are available, the site highlights which resources are most applicable for certain types of organisations, strategies or decisions.
- A searchable Resource List of the featured standards and guidance.
Going forward the Platform Partners will maintain and enrich the web content based on user feedback. They will also be working together to drive coordination and interoperability between their standards, guidance and tools, as well as to address gaps. The ultimate aim of the Partners is to work towards a complete and coherent system of norms and resources for impact management.
Platform Partners
The Platform’s founding Partners comprise B Lab, Capitals Coalition, CDP, Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG), the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative at Harvard Business School (IWAI), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), Value Reporting Foundation, Social Value International, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme – Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), UN Global Compact (UNGC) and World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA).