The Land Use Finance Programme team at UNEP and UNEP-WCMC is developing a range of tools and guidance to support financial institutions to create effective environmental and social impact frameworks for land use investments.
We work with a community of practice comprising of representatives across the land use financing space, listening to their needs and incorporating them into the development of products to help accelerate movement of financing to sustainable practices. As neutral actors, UNEP and UNEP-WCMC are able to provide guidance and tools that harmonise the existing thinking across many blended finance funds and impact investing facilities. We hope by sharing these resources, we can streamline existing efforts of financial institutions who are addressing similar issues as they develop environmental and social frameworks for sustainable land use investing.
The first guidance tool was the Positive Impact Indicators Directory, a harmonised shortlist of KPIs designed to encompass key aspects of sustainable land use investment. You can access the Directory here.
You will also find other resources on this Land Use Finance Impact Hub, all of which have been curated to help facilitate more impactful and sustainable investments in land use financing. See the Info Briefs and Webinar Recordings developed by the UNEP-WCMC team. You can also find links to External Resources, such as the Critical Habitat Screening layer and IFC Performance Standard 6.
Join our Community of Practice
The Environmental and Social Knowledge Exchange Network (ESKEN) is a Community of Practice for those involved in the environmental and social aspects of sustainable land use. The community comprises representatives of facilities and funds, service providers, commercial banks, environmental experts and impact advisors. We have a Slack workspace that serves as a platform for sharing and discussing relevant materials and hosting online events such as webinars, expert sessions and consultations.
If you are interested in joining this Community of Practice, please email luf-impacthub@unep-wcmc.org