(1.3 points)
Intent
The intent of this indicator is to assess the entity's commitment to ESG leadership standards or principles. By making a commitment to ESG leadership standards or principles, an entity publicly demonstrates its commitment to ESG, uses organizational standards and/or frameworks that are universally accepted and may have obligations to comply with the standards and/or frameworks.
Requirements
Select Yes or No: If selecting Yes, select all applicable sub-options.
Has the entity made a public commitment to ESG standards or principles?
- Yes
- General ESG commitments (multiple answers possible)
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- Equator Principles
- PRI
- UN Global Compact
- Other:_____________
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and do not oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative
- Other:_____________
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- Formal environmental issue-specific commitments (multiple answers possible)
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- Climate Action in Financial Institutions Initiative
- Climate Action 100+
- EV100
- IFC Operating Principles for Impact Management
- IIGCC Paris Aligned Investment Initiative
- Montreal Pledge
- Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials
- Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA)
- RE 100
- Science Based Targets Initiative
- UNFCCC Climate Neutral Now Pledge
- UN Global Compact Our Only Future
- UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance
- WorldGBC's Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment
- Other: ____________
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and do not oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI)
- Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change (including AIGCC, Ceres, IGCC, IIGCC)
- Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
- Other: ____________
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- Formal social issue-specific commitments (multiple answers possible)
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- List commitment(s): ____________
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and do not oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- List commitment(s): ____________
- Commitments that are publicly evidenced and oblige the organization to take action (multiple answers possible).
- General ESG commitments (multiple answers possible)
- No
-
Provide additional context for the answer provided (not validated, for reporting purposes only)
________________________
-
Changes: Changes include (i) the addition of several new commitments and, (ii) adoption of a new structure for classifying commitments.
The Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change (GIC): Participants may select this checkbox only if they are a member of any part of the four regional groups (i.e. AIGCC, Ceres, IGCC and IIGCC).
Document upload: Participants may upload several documents. When providing a document upload, it is mandatory to indicate where relevant information can be found within the document.
Validation
Evidence: Please provide a hyperlink. The evidence should sufficiently support all the items selected for this question. Ensure that it is not outdated and the relevant page can be accessed within two steps. The URL should demonstrate the existence of publicly available commitment(s) selected.
Evidence of commitment(s) provided must demonstrate:
- That the commitment is public (e.g via public register) and the entity is a member/signatory.
- That the commitment requires the entity to take action (where participant has indicated that it does).
Evidence examples may include but are not limited to:
- Official documents, reports or press releases that recognize the commitment made by the entity.
- Hyperlinks to web pages from a commitment host organization (e.g. PRI) that verifies the entity’s commitment.
Good practice example: Please refer to this link
Other: State the other commitment. Other answer must be outside the options listed in the indicator to be valid. State either a general or issue-specific commitment within the relevant sections. GRESB membership is not considered a valid example. It is not possible to report multiple other answers.
List commitment: Open text box, enter name of relevant commitment(s).
See Appendix 4 of the reference guide for additional information about GRESB Validation.
Scoring
This indicator is scored as a Two Section Indicator (i.e. Section 1: 'Elements' response and, Section 2: 'Evidence' response).
Section 1: The first section of this indicator is split into two subsections namely, i.) commitments obliging the entity to take action and ii.) commitments not obliging the entity to take action), each with different contributions to the section’s fractional score. Commitments obliging the entity to take action receive more score. It is not necessary to select all checkboxes in order to obtain the maximum score for this indicator.
Other: Any ‘other’ answer provided will be manually validated and must be accepted before achieving the fractional score. If multiple ‘other’ answers are listed, more than one may be accepted in manual validation, but only one will be counted towards the score.
Section 2: ‘Evidence’ is mandatory for this indicator. Therefore, no points will be awarded unless the hyperlink and/or the uploaded document is considered valid, based on the evidence criteria stated above. The evidence is validated which determines a multiplier, according to the table below:
Evidence: The evidence is manually validated and assigned a multiplier, according to the table below. The evidence must support the validation requirements. If any requirements are not met, the evidence may be partially accepted or not accepted depending on the level of alignment with the requirements.
| Validation status | Score |
|---|---|
| Accepted | 2/2 |
| Partially accepted | 1/2 |
| Not accepted/not provided | 0 |
Terminology
Climate Action in Financial Institutions Initiative:
(Formally known as Five Voluntary Principles for Mainstreaming Climate Action within Financial Institutions): The five principles intend to make climate change considerations a core component of how financial institutions conduct business, parallel to and in addition to the necessary development of appropriate regulatory and enabling environments at the domestic and international levels.
Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI):
A financial-sector led initiative, that brings together over 30 organisations across the investment value chain to address climate resilience challenges.
Equator Principles: The Equator Principles is a risk management framework, adopted by financial institutions, for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risks.
A global initiative bringing together forward looking companies committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and making electric transport the new normal by 2030.
Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change: A joint initiative of four regional groups that represent investors on climate change and the transition to a low carbon economy: AIGCC (Asia), Ceres (North America), IGCC (Australia/NA) and IIGC (Europe).
Operating Principles for Impact Management:
A set of principles where signatories to publicly discloses, on an annual basis, the alignment of impact management systems with the Principles and, at regular intervals, arranges for independent verification of this alignment.
IIGCC Paris Aligned Investment Initiative:
An initiative to help investors effectively implement their ambitions to reduce carbon emissions and increase investments in climate solutions in line with the Paris goals.
Supported by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the pledge is a commitment by investors to annually measure and publicly disclose their portfolios carbon footprint.
RE100 is a global initiative uniting businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity, working to massively increase demand for and delivery of renewable energy. RE100 is convened by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP.
Science Based Targets Initiative:
The initiative is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) which has a goal of enabling companies setting science based targets to reduce GHG emissions.
Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials:
A global partnership of financial institutions that work together to develop and implement a harmonized approach to assess and disclose the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their loans and investments.
Powering PastCoal Alliance (PPCA):
A coalition of countries, states and business working towards the global phase-out of unabated coal power.
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures:
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures will develop voluntary, consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies in providing information to investors, lenders, insurers, and other stakeholders.
UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative:
The UNEP FI is a partnership between United Nations Environment and the global financial sector with a mission to promote sustainable finance.
UNFCCC Climate Neutral Now Pledge
A pledge representing a group of signatory companies and governments taking the lead on reducing emissions and accelerating the global journey to a climate-neutral future.
UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance:
An international group of institutional investors delivering on a bold commitment to transition their investment portfolios to net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.
The UN Global Compact is a voluntary initiative based on CEO commitments to implement universal sustainability principles and to take steps to support UN goals.
UN Global Compact Our Only Future:
A global movement of leading companies aligning their businesses with the most ambitious aim of the Paris Agreement, to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI):
The UN PRI initiative is an international network of investors working together to put the six Principles for Responsible Investment into practice.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Call to Action:
A global, CEO-led organization of over 200 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world and helping member companies become more successful and sustainable by focusing on the maximum positive impact for shareholders, the environment and societies.
WorldGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment:
The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (the Commitment) challenges companies, cities, states and regions to reach Net Zero operating emissions in their portfolios by 2030, and to advocate for all buildings to be Net Zero in operation by 2050.
A campaign group of Chairs and CEOs taking action to increase gender diversity on boards and senior management teams.
References
UNPRI, PRI Reporting Framework, 2018
Equator Principles, 2013
UN Global Compact Principles, 2000
UNEP Finance Initiative Statement, 1992
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, 2015
International Labour Organization, International Labour Organization Standards, 2014
Climate Action in Financial Institutions Initiative, Principles for Mainstreaming Climate Action, 2015
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