Who we are
We define 'green impact' as the contribution to five specific environmental goals: our 'Green Purposes'. Every investment covered by our green impact governance approach1 must contribute to one or more of our purposes and many contribute to more than one.
These Green Purposes form a binding part of our governance. They are written into our Articles of Association, and can only ever be altered with the consent of the holder of the ‘special share’, the Green Purposes Company. No proposal has been made to amend the Green Purposes to date.
Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions means reducing emissions of atmospheric gases responsible for causing global warming and climate change from human-caused sources to the atmosphere.
Natural resources are those renewable and finite naturally occurring assets that can be used for economic production or consumption. These include mineral and energy resources, soil resources, water resources and biological resources.
Protection or enhancement of the natural environment means managing the effects of human activity on our physical environment - land, water and air - in a way that does not degrade the environment over time but maintains or improves environmental quality and functions.
Protection or enhancement of biodiversity means retaining or restoring the variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes of which they are part, including diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.
Promotion of environmental sustainability means actively and visibly supporting, encouraging or facilitating the transition to a greener global economy through the indirect effects of investments.
For more detailed definitions on the Green Purposes, please refer to our Green Investment Policy.
The Green Purposes Company Limited (GPC) is the holder of the ‘special share’ in UK Green Investment Bank Limited. The GPC is a company limited by guarantee. It has five Trustees who are independent of GIG and Macquarie Group. The primary role of the Trustees is to approve or reject any changes proposed to GIG’s Green Purposes. In performing its role, the GPC is committed to public accountability, transparency and competency, and to contributing positively to GIG’s future development.
We maintain a strong and constructive working relationship with the GPC Trustees and meet on a quarterly basis to discuss our projects, evolving business strategy, and green impact. The Trustees also continue to receive information relating to the green impact of all new GIG transactions as they happen.
We have maintained a consistent and robust approach to the measurement and reporting of green impact since our inception.
Our approach to structuring and managing green investments is underpinned by the following principles and policy:
Our Green Investment Principles set the benchmark for assessing and managing the green impact of investment transactions and related activity.
Our Green Investment Policy sets out how we assess, monitor, manage and report on the green impact associated with the investments we oversee1, to ensure that this is in line with our Green Investment Principles.
Our Green Impact Reporting Criteria sets out how we calculate the quantitative green impact and rate the qualitative green impact of investments and activities.
We report on the green impact of relevant1 investment activities on an annual basis. We report quantitative green impact in our green impact statements and, since 2020, we have also measured and disclosed qualitative green impact contributions to our five Green Purposes through Green Ratings on a scale from E to AAA. Please refer to the Green Impact Reporting Criteria for details.
Details of the green impact of relevant investment activities are made publicly available in our annual Progress Report.
We also provide investors with Green Impact Reports to disclose the green impact associated with specific investment products or portfolios. One such example is the annual impact reporting provided to lenders under the Macquarie Green Finance Framework:
Currently, there is no single globally-accepted approach to green impact assessment, monitoring or reporting. We are committed to ensuring our approach is at the forefront of market practice by engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to share our expertise and help ensure continuous improvement, for example via participation in the following initiatives.
Harmonization of Standards for GHG accounting
Our Green Analytics Team is committed to continue working alongside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on creating harmonised standards for greenhouse gas reporting.
British Standards Institution (BSI)
Building on our UK origins in green finance, our Green Analytics team supports the development of international standards for sustainable finance – in partnership with BSI, we have provided expertise on global green bond and loan standardisation and continue to contribute to the development of sustainable finance standards.
FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure (FISI) Label
FAST-Infra — the ‘Finance to Accelerate the Sustainable Transition-Infrastructure’ initiative – focuses on accelerating investment in sustainable infrastructure.
Our Green Analytics team members represent Macquarie as co-chair of the SI label working group which is developing a globally applicable label for SI assets to provide coherency for market participants, facilitate investment decisions and raise standards across the globe.
Interested to learn more about how we measure our impact?
