Karlsruhe, Germany – The new version of the Sustainability Standards and Certification Initiative (SSCI) has been finalized and ratified by the International Council of Sustainability Standards.
SSCI Version 2.0 now delivers over 200 carefully developed top-tier financial and non-financial metrics in addition to operational level targets for boosting corporate performance and becoming a leader in delivering social, economic and environmental sustainability,
This groundbreaking achievement of introducing the world’s most comprehensive sustainability metrics for financial institutions also leads to the renewal of the Sustainability Reporting System. SSCI makes reporting highly meaningful by addressing the actual, anticipated, and the often- unarticulated information requirements of all the stakeholders of a financial institution, i.e., the shareholders, customers, regulators, policy makers, employees, business community, and the society at large.
The Sustainability Metrics under SSCI go beyond the usual disclosure requirements of various stakeholders. They introduce new, state-of-the-art and futuristic targets, for example, to measure crisis resilience and readiness and the innovation capacity of the certified institutions.
But perhaps one of the most important features of Sustainability Standards is its Reporting as an Outcome of Sustainability Excellence (ROSE) Approach.
Unlike the common Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) metrics that are not generally aligned with the corporate performance goals and corporate priorities, the Sustainability Standards align social, economic and environmental sustainability ambitions of the financial institutions with their corporate profitability goals – hence making sustainability their core business.
As a result, the Sustainability Certified Institutions apply SSCI’s ROSE Approach, i.e., they report outcome of achieving sustainability excellence.
“The ROSE Approach is far more beneficial compared to the prevalent practice of reporting in an attempt to gain recognition, social acceptance, and legitimacy to operate in a business environment that is increasingly demanding responsible business conduct,” said Arshad Rab, Chairman, International Council of Sustainability Standards, and CEO, European Organisation for Sustainability Development (EOSD), the organization that developed, introduced and owns this initiative. “Such practices lead to overselling sustainability achievements, which is often referred to as greenwashing. This is highly risky undertaking because the focus is on reporting sustainability rather than becoming sustainable. Practices of this nature can lead to legal and reputational risks and can fast become an existential challenge.” Sustainability Standards deliver an all-encompassing practical framework to ensure that Certified Financial Institutions profit by becoming sustainable, but do so through creating high value for all their stakeholders, thereby ensuring long-term success. By adopting the Standards, the Certified Institutions become fit for a highly competitive market, increasingly stringent regulatory regime, and the institutions of choice for the shareholders, investors and customers.
Creating Project Pipelines for Sustainability
One of major problems for financial institutions in general and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in particular is the availability of bankable projects that deliver high social, economic and environmental impacts. To address this fundamental challenge, the Reshaping Industries for Sustainable Economy (RISE) Program was conceived. It aims to accelerate sustainable industrialization through creating green and technology-centric project pipelines.
To this end, the RISE web-based platform is currently undergoing its final stages of development.
It will help, among others, in reducing the cost of harnessing the emerging technologies, which is one of the biggest barriers to industrial modernization. Therefore, the focus is on supporting the development of indigenous and affordable solutions in emerging and developing economies to address local challenges while capitalizing on global knowledge, know-how and technology.
RISE Platform also supports development of pilot projects to demonstrate how businesses can thrive in the era of Industry 4.0 and digitalization, while aligning their business performance with the national development priorities, including environmental protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
In addition, RISE Platform enables pre-qualification of the providers of technology, technical, engineering and related services to accelerate sustainability industrialization and creation of a high value added economy through a) Safeguarding the funds provided by the Sustainability Certified Financial Institutions; b) Ensuring that the resources of project participants are deployed in a prudent manner and for high value products; c) Integrating holistic and true sustainability in the funded projects; and d) Capitalizing on cutting-edge technology and state of the art technical solutions.
Call for Nominations – Sustainable Finance Awards 2022
Nominations for Sustainable Project Finance for Green Technological Transformation are currently being accepted. This Special Edition of Sustainable Finance Awards aims to recognize most affordable and practical technologically viable projects in the market for greening the economy.
The institutions that have funded a project which included development and/or deployment of cutting edge technology and delivers outstanding economic benefits, supports environmental sustainability, and contribute to the overall technological progress of their countries or regions are welcome to send entries for the Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Award 2022.
The nominations in this category are being accepted from all financial institutions, i.e. from Sustainability Certified Institutions, applicants of sustainability certification, and those that have not yet started the rigorous certification progress.If your organization is interested in becoming a Sustainability Certified Development Finance Institution, please send your enquiries to AADFI Secretariat through email: info@adfi-ci.org