HomeHow we invest: principles and approach

Impact, additionality and ESRG

Impact, additionality and ESRG

It is essential that we have a positive impact, that we are additional, and that we are mindful of how we can contribute to wider benefits to society, the environment, and the world around us.

Through our investments - and partnering with the private sector and local government - we strive to enable positive impact by increasing infrastructure investment in pursuit of our two strategic objectives:

  • to help tackle climate change, particularly meeting the government’s net zero emissions target by 2050
  • to support regional and local economic growth through better connectedness, opportunities for new jobs and higher levels of productivity

    Some of our legacy content relating to the UKIB will be updated in due course
     

How we measure impact, additionality and ESRG

Impact, additionality, and Environmental, Social, Resilience and Governance (ESRG) are important to us because they are central to our investment decision-making, and are therefore vital in helping us achieve our strategic objectives. We have developed the following set of frameworks and guidance to help us measure and monitor these in our investments:

Glasgow cityscape at night

Impact Framework

All our investments should be impactful, and the kind of well-designed infrastructure we were created to finance should contribute to local economic opportunity and help tackle climate change (our triple bottom line).

Our Impact Framework is designed with this in mind – underpinned by the principles of learning and feedback, proportionality, credibility and transparency, and a focus on being consistent and evidence based.

It sets out:

  • our approach to impact, including identifying  the principles and pathways to achieving impact. The pathways help inform our assessment of deal impact and set out the core deal metrics - for example employment , greenhouse gas emissions, private co-investment mobilised, and other deal metrics we use to assess our impact 
  • how we plan to monitor progress towards our  impact goals and evaluate our impact and  additionality to help the organisation learn
     
Greater Manchester Bee network buses

Additionality approach

In simple terms, additionality is the extent to which, what happens because of our support, would not have happened otherwise. Our additionality guidance sets out: 

  • how we test and assess the extent to which impact would not have materialised without us, at the deal level
  • how we will maximise our achievement against its strategic objectives, for example through crowding-in investment, offering flexible financial products and accelerating project delivery

You can read about our additionality approach. This blog also explains the principle behind additionality and how it plays a crucial part in our investment decision-making.
 

Haventus Ardersier Port

ESRG Framework

To help ensure we can be transparent and credible in meeting our objectives, we have developed our Environmental, Social, Resilience and Governance (ESRG) Framework.

It helps us communicate to the market and our peers, how we manage any materially important ESRG risks and opportunities in our portfolio. It reflects how we are different to other financial institutions in that we have £22bn of capital to invest to support specific objectives and we are building new infrastructure assets without needing to manage a legacy portfolio.

Our impact to date

Since our launch, we have invested over £3.8 billion in projects across the UK that will support over 10,700 jobs, and mobilise almost £11 billion in private investment.

For more information on our impact to date, please see our latest Annual Reports and Accounts.

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Cornish Lithium CEO Jeremy Wrathall talks about the impact of our investment

In August 2023 we announced an equity investment of approximately £24 million to support Cornish Lithium in the development of the UK’s critical minerals supply chain. Watch founder and CEO of Cornish Lithium Jeremy Wrathall talk about why the Bank's role was critical, providing confidence to other investors and supporting and creating hundreds of jobs.

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Port of Tyne's CFO Mark Stoner shares more on the port's regeneration

In June 2023 we committed up to £50 million to the Port of Tyne’s regeneration and expansion plans. Watch Mark Stoner, Port of Tyne CFO, talk about the deal, and how it will create and support local jobs.

Deal factsheets

Read more about the impact and additionality of our deals.
If you have a project that you would like to discuss with us please get in touch