SDG Impact | United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Testimonials

We are pleased to share a testimonial for our SDG Impact Standards issued by the Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I), which is Japan’s largest rating agency established in 1998. Please learn more about R&I on its website.

Enterprises, investors, and public entities in Japan welcome the birth of these innovative standards. “How can an entity demonstrate the contributions it is making to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their entirety?”. A solution lies in the SDG Impact Standards for Enterprises by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Based on the concepts set forth in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the draft SDG Impact Standards for Enterprise by UNDP, Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I) announced a third-party opinion evaluating the “Kobe 2025 Vision” of the city of Kobe towards its contributions to the SDGs.

R&I sees a great promise in UNDP’s SDG Impact Standards. Through the case of the city of Kobe, R&I learned that the SDG Impact Standards can be the global language required for entities to demonstrate their philosophy and vision. The SDG Impact Standards incorporate universal concepts such as stakeholder engagement and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. They further provide external evaluators a dynamic measure focusing on an enterprise’s or investor’s internal processes and decision-making practices towards the SDGs, beyond a simplistic assessment based on just check boxes.

日本の企業、自治体、投資家はこのイノベーティブな基準の誕生を歓迎しています。「組織全体がSDGsに資するということを何とか表現できないものか？」彼らが捜していた答えがここにあります。R&Iは神戸市の「神戸2025ビジョン」に対して、国連の「持続可能な開発のための2030アジェンダ」とUNDPの「SDGインパクト基準（事業向け）」の草案で示された基本的な考え方をもとに、SDGsに資するとの第三者意見を発表しました。

R&IはSDGインパクト基準に大きな将来性を感じています。R&Iが神戸市の事例を通じて学んだのは、この基準は組織の精神や理念を語るグローバルな共通言語となりうることです。この基準はステークホルダーとの協働や国連のビジネスと人権に関する指導原則といった幾つかのユニバーサルな考え方を組み込んでいます。さらに外部評価者に対して、チェック項目への充足を判定するのではなく、組織の内部プロセスと意思決定の実践にフォーカスした動的な手法を提供しています。

Who we are

We envision a world in which all capital flows advance the SDGs.

Powered by the United Nations Development Programme, together with the Impact Management Project's network of partners, our resources enable more effective investing for the global good.

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What we do

A clear plan to
optimize your impact.

SDG Impact is a UNDP initiative, tasked with developing resources under three central pillars to accelerate investment towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. View our brochure.

Impact Management 01

Targeting the gap between high level principles and impact performance reporting.

SDG Impact Standards

Re-orient practice away from using the SDGs in to report current activities differently towards using them more strategically to make different decisions. Promote market development by encouraging and authenticating transparency and assurance of practice to strengthen impact integrity and build market confidence and trust in SDG-enabling investment.

OECD-UNDP Impact Standards for Financing Sustainable Development

UNDP SDG Impact collaborated with OECD on developing the Impact Standards for Financing Sustainable Development (IS-FSD). The Standards are designed to support donors in the deployment of public resources through development finance institutions (DFIs) and private asset managers, in a way that maximises the positive contribution towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Independent Assurance & Seal

Independent assurance against the standards will be encouraged and SDG Impact is working with stakeholders to develop an accreditation system for independent practice assurers. An SDG Impact Seal and associated governance is being developed. Issuers of SDG Bonds, Private Equity Fund Managers and Enterprises will be able to apply based on independent assurance of practice to a pre-determined level to qualify.

Impact Management Education

UNDP SDG Impact collaborated with CASE at Duke University to offer the free Impact Measurement & Management for the SDGs course on Coursera. The 10 hour programme teaches investors and enterprises how to integrate impact management practices – in line with the UNDP SDG Impact Standards – into their decision making, and how to operate more sustainably and increase their contributions towards achievement of the SDGs.

Impact Intelligence 02

Generating country-level data and insights about SDG-enabling investment opportunities. This work targets the gap between interest in investing in SDGs and the business models that could provide investable opportunities.

SDG Investor Maps

In-depth reports on SDG-enabling investment opportunities and conditions in target markets and sectors.

Click here to view a short presentation on the SDG Investor Maps methodology.

SDG Investor Platform

Market intelligence to accelerate SDG-aligned investment globally, as identified through the SDG Investor Maps.

The SDG Investor Platform makes 200+ SDG-aligned investment opportunities publicly accessible

WHY THIS MATTERS

We aim to see our
world
radically
changed, for good.

Achieving the SDGs will create a world that is more sustainable, equitable, and prosperous. In order to get there, investors must adapt their strategies to deliver not only financial results, but positive social and environmental outcomes as well.

Want to learn more about the
Sustainable Development Goals?

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ACHIEVING THE SDGs PROVIDES…

MORE JOBS

2000000

jobs created —90% in developing countries
MORE OPPORTUNITIES

$12 trillion

worth of market opportunities opened
MORE VALUE

2-3x growth

compared to average GDP growth over the next 10-15 years