Tools

The Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) helps policy makers and investors take informed decisions on infrastructure financing based on customized simulations. The tool forecasts how infrastructure projects will affect and be affected by the environmental, social and economic dynamics and simulates how different risk scenarios affect a project’s financial viability across its life cycle and how material externalities can affect future cash flows. Thereby, SAVi allows to evaluate the financial attractiveness of infrastructure projects across the life cycle, considering important environmental, social, economic and governance factors that are overlooked in traditional valuations, and to compare different infrastructure scenarios and their financial viabilities.

The Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) provide global guidance on the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks into insurance underwriting. The purpose of the tool is to foster a resilient insurance industry based on holistic and far-sighted risk management in which ESG issues are considered. Thereby, the PSI promote a risk aware world, where the insurance industry is trusted and plays its full role in enabling a healthy, safe, resilient and sustainable society. Progress reports by signatories are submitted annually. The Principles are part of the insurance industry criteria of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and FTSE4Good.

The six Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) are a voluntary and aspirational set of investment principles that offer a menu of possible actions for incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into investment practices. The tool not only aims to improve understanding the investment implication of ESG factors but also supports investors in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. Investors can become signatories to the PRI. They then must report on their responsible investment activities annually.

The Environmental and Social Performance Standards of the International Finance Coalition (IFC) define IFC clients’ responsibilities for managing the environmental and social risks of their projects. The Performance Standards provide guidance on how to identify risks and impacts and are designed to help avoid, mitigate and manage risks and impacts as a way of doing business in a more sustainable way. Since 2012, the Standards apply to all IFC clients whose projects go through IFC’s initial credit review process.

PEER is a rating-system that drives market transformation in the power and energy sectors. Through certification, PEER recognized industry leaders for improving efficiency, day-to-day reliability and overall resilience when it comes to severe climate events. The point-based assessment leads to a sustainability certification. A separate pre-certification option is available. PEER certification requires one year of operational performance data. And PEER precertification enables projects to map their design and construction requirements for optimal resilience, while obtaining recognition for their work while it is underway.

Parksmart is a rating system that defines, measures, and recognizes high-performing, sustainable garages. The system does not only measure performance but also offers a roadmap for innovative and solution-oriented strategies that advance sustainable mobility through smarter parking structure design, reduction of operational costs, improved energy efficiency, and better lighting and ventilation. The tool is available for new projects and existing structures. A pre-certification version is available to guide decision making on projects that wish to be certified in the future.

The IS Rating Scheme is Australia and New Zealand’s rating framework to assess the sustainability of the planning, design, construction and operation phases of infrastructure programs, projects, networks and assets. IS evaluates the sustainability performance of the quadruple bottom line (governance, economic, environmental and social) of infrastructure development. Several manuals and resources are available, covering different phases of the infrastructure cycle, being the main ones IS Design & As Built v2.0 and IS Planning v2.0. The total score is calculated based on the points achieved in the different credits. Verification of the assessment result is undertaken by an independent third-party verifier.

The Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool (INVEST) is a web-based self-evaluation tool to assess and enhance the environmental, social and economic sustainability of transportation projects. The tool aims to support a sustainable construction and maintenance of highways and other transportation projects to satisfy societal development and economic growth while enhancing the natural environment and reducing natural resource use. The tool offers four different modules throughout the life cycle: System Planning for States (SPS), System Planning for Regions (SPR), Project Development (PD) and Operations and Maintenance (OM). Each module is independent, measures sustainability across individual criteria and is evaluated separately.

The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) is India’s national framework for the assessment of environmental impacts of built environments with an individual version applying to large developments (>50Ha) (GRIHA-LD) and one for Cities. For both versions, the net impact of built environments on quantitative and qualitative parameters is totaled and compared against a rating table, resulting in a sustainability certification. Thereby, the tool aims to support the reduction of detrimental impacts of built environments on ecological cycles and surroundings.

The GRI Standards create a common language for organizations’ reporting on their sustainability impacts in a consistent and credible way. This enhances global comparability and enables organizations transparency and accountability. The Standards help organizations understand and disclose their impacts in a way that meets the needs of multiple stakeholders. Organizations can either use the GRI Standards to prepare a coherent sustainability report using a series of universal standards (GRI-101, 102 and / or 103) or refer to topic-specific standards relevant to economic (GRI-200 series), environmental (GRI-300 series) and social (GRI-400 series) aspects to report information for specific users or purposes.