by the MicroCapital Team - Risks -

SPECIAL REPORT: Agents for Impact: Driving Positive Impact… Together!

Founded in 2018, we are a Germany-based impact investing company. Agents for Impact (AFI) offers pre­mium impact invest­ment solutions, sustainability consul­ting and impact measurement services tailor-made for clients in the sustainable finance industry.

We provide our partners with a combination of expertise and experience across the following three pillars: RISK – RATING – RESEARCH.

We have Agents spread across Africa, India, South­east Asia, Central Asia and Europe, each with in-depth technical expertise and located in close geographical proximity to our key partners and target countries to ensure optimal support.

We pride ourselves on being the partner of choice for impact investors and financial services pro­viders (FSPs) seeking innovation and cooperation. Together with these partners, we pursue positive impact, contributing to the achievement of the SDGs as the common reference framework for sustainable devel­opment.

Check our news feed to find out more! Or to learn about our custom-built ser­vices, please email us at info@agentsforimpact.com or call +49 69 2043 69912.

A strategic approach to sustainability risks and impact opportunities

Impact and sustainability require the same strategic approach as any other business objective. They must be integrated into an organization’s structure, processes and culture. Today’s increased awareness of sustain­ability risks and the need to provide data on environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects to investors and other stakeholders is the “new normal.” With our combined expertise and experience, we at AFI con­tinuously strive to improve our ability to deliver on sustainability issues – bearing in mind that they translate into both risks and oppor­tunities, with positive and negative impacts. Therefore, we aim to guide our partners to understand the interdependency of their impact objec­tives and their exposure to sustainability risks in order to manage them optimally.

What we do

Our sustainability RISK special­ists perform plausibility checks for ESG ratings of listed com­panies by the major pro­viders, such as MSCI ESG and ISS ESG. Through our partner­ships in the micro- & SME finance sector, we also address ESG and other sustainability risks in impact measurement & man­agement as well as sustainability-related regulatory developments such as the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan.

Four elements of managing sustainability risks

– Assessment: We use our AFISAR© Tool to assess an FSP’s sustain­ability performance based on the SDGs and ESG criteria.

– Analysis: We link positive & nega­tive impacts with sustainability risks and opportunities for impact.

– Awareness: We address key sustain­ability issues, inspiring action for sustainable development.

– Advisory: We share our expertise in sustainability, microfinance and impact investing.

You may find more information about AFISAR© at
https://www.agentsforimpact.com/de/afisar/.

Milestones

Since founding the sustainability RISK pillar in 2020, we have successfully completed:

– 100+ plausibility checks for the ESG ratings of listed companies across 30+ industries;

– consulting projects with the leading German financial institutions HANSAINVEST and SIGNAL IDUNA Asset Management to facilitate smooth implementation of the Guidance Notice on Sustainability Risks issued by BaFin, Germany’s banking supervisor;

– several management workshops for AFISAR© partners on addressing sustainability risks and opportunities;

– several workshops building in-house knowledge on integrating sus­tainability into investment processes; and

– the development of pilot products on “sustainable finance literacy.”

Initiatives

We are an active member of the Federal German Impact Investing Initiative, co-leading its “Initiative on Impact Measurement & Management.”

This feature is sponsored by Agents for Impact.

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