Sustainable Investing works with international organizations, institutional investors and investment research houses to provide research and convening around new trends in sustainable finance. Since 2003, IFC has taken concrete steps to increase the amount of sustainable portfolio equity and private equity investment into and within emerging markets. The goal has been set out to almost double the stock of sustainable capital in emerging markets from US$2.7 billion in 2003 – less than 0.1% of emerging market stock market capitalization – to US$5 billion in 2008.

Recent Highlights

Emerging Risk: Impacts of Key Environmental Trends in Emerging Asia (added June 2009)
A new series of reports from IFC and World Resources Institute (WRI) shines a spotlight on environmental risks and opportunities that will impact the financial performance of companies in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam and sounds the alarm that these risk and opportunities are overlooked by investors and companies in the region. Emerging Risk lays the groundwork for analysts to understand environmental issues as financially material, and for companies to see the financial benefits of reducing their environmental impact.

Emerging Risk is the first report in a series establishing the link between issues such as climate change, air pollution, water, and natural resource depletion and traditional financial analysis on corporate value and financial strength for companies in these six key Asian economies. Together with the Undisclosed Risk report [PDF], Emerging Risk sets the stage for a series of sector-specific reports to be published by IFC, WRI and HSBC later this year. The upcoming reports will identify material environmental risks and opportunities in the region’s food and beverage, real estate and power generation sectors.

The series of reports are sponsored by IFC and WRI, in partnership with the Japanese government.

Download the report [PDF] | View the press release | Visit the WRI website



Undisclosed Risk: Corporate Environmental and Social Reporting in Emerging Asia (added June 2009)
A new series of reports from IFC and World Resources Institute (WRI) shines a spotlight on environmental risks and opportunities that will impact the financial performance of companies in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam and sounds the alarm that these risk and opportunities are overlooked by investors and companies in the region. Undisclosed Risk focuses on corporate transparency on environmental risks, and lays the groundwork for understanding environmental disclosure and reporting in emerging markets through an investor lens.

Undisclosed Risk is the second report in a series establishing the link between issues such as climate change, air pollution, water, and natural resource depletion and traditional financial analysis on corporate value and financial strength for companies in these six key Asian economies. Together with the Emerging Risk report [PDF], Undisclosed Risk sets the stage for a series of sector-specific reports to be published by IFC, WRI and HSBC later this year. The upcoming reports will identify material environmental risks and opportunities in the region’s food and beverage, real estate and power generation sectors.

The series of reports are sponsored by IFC and WRI, in partnership with the Japanese government.

Download the report [PDF] | View the press release | Visit the WRI website



Sustainable Investment in Brazil 2009 (added June 2009)
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have been an important commercial differentiator in the Brazilian financial and investment community for nearly a decade. The commitment, depth and sophistication of this market — now the world's 10th largest economy — may be unique among the world's emerging economies. As a signal of significant progress, Brazil's pioneering business models have received international attention and have been emulated in other markets.

Today Brazil's sustainable investment market faces fresh obstacles, especially taking into account the country's environmental and social issues and the scale of domestic and foreign investment. Against this background, this report, the first in a series of IFC Sustainable Investment Country Reports, aims to measure the current state and discuss the future of Brazil's sustainable investment market, and stimulate discussion.

Download the report [PDF]

Also see Gaining Ground - Integrating ESG factors into investment processes (March 2009). The report, published by IFC and Mercer, produced the first rating on ESG practices of fund managers in China, India, South Korea and Brazil and identified best-practice ESG examples to pre-empt potential risks and enhance returns.