Asian Development Bank

African Development Bank

Carbon Disclosure Project is a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts

Development Finance Institution

Environmental and Social (also S&E) issues. Also includes occupational health and safety issues

Environmental assessment is a generic term covering various types of assessment processes such as Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment, environmental analyses, environmental audits, and due diligence. More Less

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Export Credit Agency

Environmental Health and Safety (also called SHE)

Environmental Health and Safety Guidelines are technical reference documents with general and industry-specific examples of Good International Industry Practice, defined in IFC’s PS 3 on Pollution Prevention and Abatement. The general EHS Guidelines contain information on cross-cutting EHS issues potentially applicable to all industry sectors. The general EHS Guidelines should be used together with the relevant industry sector guideline(s). More Less

European Investment Bank

Equator Principles

Equator Principles Financial Institution is an FI that has adopted the EPs

The Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) or Action Plan (see IFC Performance Standard 1). The Action Plan will (i) describe the actions necessary to implement the various sets of mitigation measures or corrective actions to be undertaken; (ii) prioritize these actions; (iii) include the timeline for their implementation; (iv) be disclosed to the affected communities; and (v) describe the schedule and mechanism for external reporting on the client’s implementation of the Action Plan More Less

Environmental, Social and Governance (issues)

The systematic and explicit inclusion by investment managers of ESG factors into financial analysis and decision making

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment. Also called SEIA. The impact assessment process is a way to identify, predict and assess the type and scale of potential environmental and social negative and positive impacts and opportunities associated with any business activities or projects. These assessment are usually commissioned for new developments or significant expansions of existing businesses. Many countries define types of developments requiring mandatory ESIAs as part of the E&S permitting process More Less

Environmental and Social Management System (also called SEMS). The documented and implemented assessment and management elements allowing a business to meet the requirements of the IFC PS. The key parts of an ESMS include policy and procedures for assessing and managing E&S impacts; the organizational structure, technical and management capacity; training; stakeholder relationships; financial resources; E&S monitoring; and reporting. In the case of FIs, this refers to the elements of the ESMS, and includes the FI E&S policies and review procedures, E&S organization structure, financial and human resources, and internal and external E&S reporting that are required to apply IFC PS1 and PS2 to the FI’s internal operations and the Applicable Performance Requirements effectively in sub-projects More Less

Environmental and Social Risk Assessment

Environmental and Social Risk Management

The EU taxonomy is a classification system, establishing a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities. To achieve the EU’s climate and energy investment targets for 2030 and meet the objectives of the European Green Deal; a common language and a clear definition of what is ‘sustainable’ is needed. This is why the ‘Action plan on financing sustainable growth’ called for the creation of a common classification system for sustainable economic activities, or an “EU taxonomy” More Less

Financial Intermediary or Financial Institution

Free, Prior, and Informed Consent

Forest Stewardship Council, was the first forest certification body, promoting sustainable forest management through a set of 10 principles and 70 criteria applying to FSC certified forests worldwide

Greenhouse Gases (GHG) trap heat in the atmosphere leading to global warming. The main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases.

Global Impact Investing Network

Global Reporting Initiative is an international independent standards organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their impacts on issues such as climate change, human rights and corruption. More Less

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

International Finance Corporation

International Hydropower Association

Targeted investments aimed at delivering positive, measurable social or environmental impacts, alongside a financial return

Impact investment and Reporting Index

International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Multilateral finance institution also, Microfinance Institution

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency provides political risk insurance for investments in developing countries.

The exclusion from a fund or plan of certain sectors or companies involved in activities deemed unacceptable or controversial. Also called exclusionary screening. Source: US SIF

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Occupational Health and Safety, also Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)

Investment in sectors, companies or projects selected for positive ESG performance relative to industry peers. This also includes avoiding companies that do not meet certain ESG performance thresholds

Principles for Responsible Investment, a UN supported network of investors working to promote sustainable investment through incorporation of ESG factors into investment decision making and management

IFC’s Environmental and Social Performance Standards define IFC clients responsibilities for managing their environmental and social risks and impacts

Private Sector Financial Institution

Principles for Sustainable Insurance, a collaborative initiative between UNEP FI and the global insurance industry to address ESG risks and opportunities in the sector

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation is an initiative negotiated as part of the UN Convention on Climate Change in 2005, with the objective of mitigating climate change through reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases through enhanced forest management in developing countries More Less

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is a non-profit body established to promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil products

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board is a non-profit organization, founded in 2011 to develop sustainability accounting standards

Sustainable Banking and Finance Network is a voluntary community of financial sector regulatory agencies and banking associations from emerging markets committed to advancing sustainable finance in line with international good practice More Less

Sustainable Development Goals, also called the Global Goals were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 SDGs are integrated and recognise that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability More Less

Social and Environmental Management System, also called ESMS

Safety, Health and Environment

Small and Medium Enterprise

Investments into companies that have positive social impacts through their business activities. Investments can be made into individual companies, or through funds that target such companies with the aim of financial gain and positive social impact More Less

Special purpose vehicle, is a subsidiary usually established by a company to ring fence risks and costs

Assets that have suffered from unanticipated or pre-mature write downs, devaluations or conversion to liabilities. In the case of stranded fossil-fuel assets, the devaluation would primarily be driven by climate policy, from country-level targets to sector policies meant to drive the transition to low-carbon Source: Divestment and Stranded Assets in the Low-carbon Transition, Background paper for the 32nd Round Table on Sustainable Development 28 October 2015 More Less

The selection of assets specifically related to sustainability in single or multi-themed funds. Source: US SIF

Sovereign Wealth Funds

The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures was created in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to develop consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies, banks, and investors in providing information to stakeholders. Increasing the amount of reliable information on financial institutions’ exposure to climate-related risks and opportunities will strengthen the stability of the financial system, contribute to greater understanding of climate risks and facilitate financing the transition to a more stable and sustainable economy. More Less

Terms of Reference. The scope of goods, services and deliverables to be provided in a service contract

Transboundary Issues Include air and other pollution that crosses political, governmental, or geographical boundaries; abstraction of water from or pollution of international waterways; and disputes where issues can yield tension among states, including drug trafficking, population migration, support to insurgency movements, organized crime, and energy or economic development projects situated near the border More Less

United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Venture Capital

World Bank