Financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Natural Capital Financial Alliance (NCFA) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have jointly developed an open source tool that allows banks to test their loan portfolios for vulnerability to major droughts. A report Drought Stress Testing – Making Financial Institutions more resilient to Environmental Risks showcases the tool in action by piloting the stress test on sample corporate lending portfolios of nine international financial institutions. For more information as well as access to the tool and the report see a press release on the UNEP FI website.

The Nasdaq’s Nordic and Baltic Exchanges have issued a framework to support their listed companies to meet ESG disclosure requirements. The guidance has a strong reference to GRI’s sustainability reporting framework, and it reflects the recommendations of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSE). The ESG Reporting Guide is available through the Nasdaq's website.

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) recently completed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at working together to help businesses identify and prioritise issues related to sustainability and enterprise risk management. COSO will work with WBCSD to develop interpretive guidance on how to embed sustainable development issues into COSO’s Enterprise Risk Management Framework as a foundation to bridge the gap between the way companies consider sustainability issues in their risk management processes and how they disclose these risks to investors. Please see the press release on the COSO website.