FLIT Invest is committed to meeting and exceeding industry standards when it comes to sustainability. When you invest in companies that claim to do good, you want to see the evidence, right? We believe this too. Our team of dedicated analysts conducts hours of research to bring you the impact of your investments—the metrics and figures of your real-term impact by investing in our portfolios. FLIT Invest provides impact tracking for carbon metrics, thematic metrics (social and environmental), and UN SDG mapping – but what does it all mean? Read on to discover what our United Nations Sustainable Development Goals mapping captures and what those awesome numbers in your app mean for the world.
What are the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?
Across industries and around the world, there are standards and frameworks to measure sustainability, but nothing as revolutionary as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). On September 25th, 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This was an exciting and innovative global framework to support sustainable development internationally.
At the core of the 2030 Agenda are 17 Sustainable Development Goals – they outline major developmental challenges for humanity and aim to secure sustainable, peaceful, and equitable life on earth for everyone. Each goal has targets to enhance the success of pursuing and attaining the goal. There are 169 targets in total, and each has indicators to measure success.
The SDGs are built upon 5 critical components – people X prosperity X peace X partnership X planet – but fundamental to the UN’s framework is the motto “leaving nobody behind”. The goals recognize the importance of social, environmental, and economic development occurring in harmony with each other and between nations. All countries are target countries – a just and sustainable world is one where we work together.
What is UN SDG mapping?
We believe the United Nations SDGs are necessary for a more equitable, greener, and just future. They are an excellent tool for measuring sustainable practices in countries and companies, which is why they are part of our impact measurement. Impact investing drives money towards companies making an intentional, positive impact on social and environmental issues. You can read more about the implementation of the 17 goals in impact investing in our article The UN SDGs Explained for Impact Investing.
UN SDG mapping is a form of impact measurement that tracks company revenue against the 17 SDGs. If a company makes $700,000,000 a year, you want to know if any of that is coming from providing solutions to SDG5 Gender Equality, SDG2 Zero Hunger, or SDG13 Climate Action?
How does FLIT Invest calculate UN SDG impact?
FLIT Invest conducts UN SDG revenue mapping on the companies in your portfolio. The total (100%) represents the revenues of all your impact portfolio companies (i.e., the companies within your selected investment themes) that are considered for this analysis. FLIT impact analysts spend 8-10 hours on average to understand the business model, products, and impact of each company within your portfolio. First, they obtain the data directly from the companies’ publicly available disclosures, including its annual reports, sustainability, impact and other reports or presentations.
Thereafter, they analyze the companies’ and other 3rd party inputs and, if applicable, allocate parts of the companies’ revenues to the individual sustainable development sub-targets. There are 169 sub-targets and over 300 indicators within the 17 SDGs. These sub-target level figures are then aggregated by SDGs and on your portfolio level as well which are then presented to you.
Why is Some Revenue Unallocated?
This is the percentage of the revenues of your portfolio companies that we could not allocate to any of the SDGs, because they are not in line with the goals or there are simply no goals focusing on that specific matter.
This is not always bad – for example, none of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals specifically target the welfare of all animals, and only focus on threatened species as well as poaching and trafficking within SDG15. However, at FLIT, we strongly believe that the welfare of our pets is one of the key challenges that are impacting our generations and most of the unallocated revenues are coming from Pet Welfare firms that are engaged in providing food, medication and healthcare services, insurance and other products to animals.
Today, progress is being made in many places, but, overall, action to meet the UN SDGs is not yet advancing at the speed or scale required. We need all existing and future investments to incorporate the UN SDGs and target positive social and environmental impact to achieve a sustainable future for all. See for yourself how you contribute to the SDGs with your investment portfolio and start investing with FLIT Invest today.
