We, the members of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance, reaffirm our support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – which sets out a vision for a prosperous future for people and planet, underpinned by sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic development.

GISD has created a set of sector-specific metrics to better measure the impact of companies on sustainable development and allow investors to incorporate this assessment in their investment decisions. The report endorsed by the GISD CEOs initially covers eight different sectors.

To procure a shift from short-termism to long-termism within the finance sector, and thereby supporting the achievement of the SDG goals, the incentives within the investment chain should be adjusted. The working group behind this report has reviewed and assessed key actors along the investment chain as presented in the picture below. The review has been done with the aim to identify a handful of recommendations that are actionable and capable of having a meaningful and speedy impact of providing impetus for long termism across the financial sector.

The Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance is a group of 30 of the world’s top business leaders convened by the United Nations SecretaryGeneral to arrive at solutions that scale up private finance and investment necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This report, completed by Prof. Alexander Bassen and other researchers at the University of Hamburg, makes a strong case for the creation of a listed equity index aligned with GISD's Sustainable Development Investing (SDI) definition. Using existing data, the researchers were able to translate the definition’s decision tree into an index of global listed equities.

GISD commissioned a research paper by Prof. Andreas Hoepner (University College Dublin), Ifigenia Paliabelos (SDG Labs) and Dr. Joeri Rogelj (Imperial College London) on how to increase the interoperability of sustainable finance taxonomies, principles, and tools.

More than ever, economic and social infrastructure is critical for the resilience and prosperity of all countries. Sustainable infrastructure ─ infrastructure that ensures economic, financial, social, environmental (including climate resilience), and institutional (or governance) sustainability over the entire infrastructure lifecycle ─ can bring about holistic, multi-layered and long-term benefits to people and the environment. Research paper commissioned by GISD, authored by Motoko Aizawa.

The GISD Call to Action for COVID-19 Bond Issuance encourages companies and governments to support high-priority activities and projects related to the pandemic in alignment with the SDGs.

This report provides recommendations and strategic considerations that, if followed, will enable leaders from the public and private sectors to harmonize objectives, coordinate global standards and align efforts to facilitate, promote and scale up investment towards the Sustainable Development Goals.