What’s it about in short: A group of 10 inter­na­tional banks recently signed the Pos­i­tive Impact Man­i­festo. This includes a roadmap towards a new par­a­digm of pos­i­tive finan­cial impact on the econ­omy, soci­ety and envi­ron­ment.

When was it released: Octo­ber 2, 2015

By whom: Mer­ca­dos de Medio Ambiente

More info: http://www.mercadosdemedioambiente.com/actualidad/la-banca-determinante-en-la-transicion-hacia-una-economia-verde-e-inclusiva/ (in Span­ish, see the pdf of the man­i­festo in Eng­lish here)

Short extract:

Un grupo for­mado por 10 ban­cos inter­na­cionales ha fir­mado recien­te­mente el Man­i­fiesto Impacto Pos­i­tivo, en el que se recoge una hoja de ruta para el establec­imiento de un nuevo par­a­digma basado en el impacto financiero pos­i­tivo en la economía, la sociedad y el medioambiente.

The Bank­ing Com­mis­sion believes that, in 2015, when the urgency for the tran­si­tion to sus­tain­abil­ity con­tin­ues to increase, and when policy-makers across mul­ti­ple fora, from the G20 to the UN Gen­eral Assem­bly are mul­ti­ply­ing their calls to action, a new financ­ing par­a­digm is needed if we are to act in time.
The Bank­ing Com­mis­sion is call­ing for a wide-ranging move­ment across the bank­ing sec­tor and the broader finan­cial sec­tor to drive Pos­i­tive Impact Finance hand in hand with the play­ers that lie at the heart of the econ­omy and hence of the tran­si­tion: cor­po­rates, busi­nesses and entre­pre­neurs.
Pos­i­tive Impact Finance is that which ver­i­fi­ably pro­duces a pos­i­tive impact on the econ­omy, soci­ety or the envi­ron­ment once any poten­tial neg­a­tive impacts have been duly iden­ti­fied and mitigated.