The first draft of the SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds were subject to an initial public consultation period of three months, October-December 2019. Thank you for the feedback received.
The second draft of the SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds are now available for public consultation through 31st of July 2020.
The consultation process meets the UNDP Principles for social and environmental standards. We seek feedback from a broad range of Stakeholders.
The first public consultation on SDG Impact Standards for SDG Bonds is now open.
These Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds can be used for debt and equity funds, as well as other early stage fund managers (e.g. venture capital).
Download the SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds
Download the Public Consultation Guiding Questions
Download the FAQs
Download the Feedback Submission and Standards Self-Assessment Form
These SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds are now available on this page. We encourage robust feedback and input through the public consultation process. Provide your feedback to sdgimpact.standards@undp.org by 31st of July 2020.
To validate the new SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds and promote adoption, SDG Impact convened a group representing approximately 40 private equity funds to review, implement, and test the Standards. The purpose of the pilot was to confirm that the Standards could be applied consistently across a variety of funds representing different geographies, fund sizes, and portfolios. The exercise collected insights about the levels of attainment, the ease of use and clarity of the Standards, the resource commitments to undertake the self-assessment, and identified and/or confirmed reference materials.
We would like to thank and acknowledge our pilot partners for their time and support.
Thank you for joining the pilot!
The Standards for Private Equity have been developed for Fund Managers and other industry actors as a public good to inform practice that can direct and orient investment activities towards achievement of the SDGs. They are designed to facilitate implementation of the principles frameworks already in place and inform performance reporting and benchmarking. They embed the SDGs and IMPs five dimensions within a framework for concrete actions to more fully understanding and comparing SDG related impact. The Standards will be applied to each Fund, recognising that fund managers may manage several funds that may or may not be seeking to apply these Standards
Adoption of the Standards enables users to more consistently navigate and apply concrete, practical thresholds for impact management, operationalize and implement industry frameworks and principles and inform and drive impact and financial performance.
The Standards are designed to meet the needs of new and existing actors and apply to established and innovative practice, reflecting the dynamic and growing nature of SDG-enabling impact initiatives and enterprises and investment into them.
The Standards will be valuable and useful to the market including the following groups:
Those adopting the Standards will also benefit from resources and the Certification Framework which provide guidance on practical adoption.
Increasingly, the private sector is recognising the links between sustainable development and future business performance. Governments are also recognising the importance of private and innovative finance to achieve the SDGs, including through multi-lateral initiatives of the G7 and G20.
They recognise the growing trend towards analyzing businesses and investments based on the SDGs and represent a shift from using the SDGs to map existing activities to more integrated practice directing and orienting investment towards activities that create more impact and contribute to progress toward the SDGs.
The Standards apply whether a fund manager’s intentions focus on avoiding harm that inhibits achievement of the SDGs, benefiting stakeholders in relation to one or more SDGs, and/or contributing to solutions that advance achievement of the SDGs.
The Standards are designed to provide flexibility by focusing on strong underlying practices applied within a consistent framework based on IMP’s five dimensions of impact and alignment with SDGs and associated targets. This enables the requisite consistency to be able to report on a consistent and comparable basis and reduces the tension to set metrics that are consistent but not meaningful at the underlying enterprise/project level.
A fundamental aim of the Standards is to enable the market to make informed decisions about whether and how private equity investments contribute to achievement of the SDGs through universally agreed SDG-enabling impact measurement and management practices.
The 17 interrelated SDGs provide a universal framework for addressing some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. They define the agenda agreed by all 193 Member States of the United Nations (UN) for inclusive economic growth by 2030 and reflect inputs from civil society, businesses, non-profit organizations and academia.
The SDGs are variously referred to as the world’s most comprehensive map of need, risk and opportunity. The scale of the challenge to achieve the goals by 2030 requires both reallocation of public and private investment flows towards the SDGs and new solutions at scale. The Standards aim to support that shift, helping more private equity funds to move beyond using the SDGs operationally as a reporting lens to align their existing investments and activities with the SDGs, to using the SDGs more strategically to reorient and redirect their investment capital towards investment opportunities that contribute to the SDGs, including reducing negative impacts.
