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Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) takes various forms and approaches. Various academic studies and publications selected for their relevance will help you to find your way around. You can also consult our SRI documentation, our Transparency Code, the carbon footprint of our investment funds or our voting and engagement report in this section.
LFDE Documents External resources Labels & GlossaryLFDE Documents
External resources
To decode SRI or to read the most relevant studies, in our opinion, on the subject.
- Guide on biodiversity measurement approaches – Finance for Biodiversity Foundation (2022)
- Finance & Biodiversity : Understanding and acting - FIR & Iceberg Data Lab (2021)
- Definition of impact finance - Finance for Tomorrow (2021)
- Impact investing: a demanding definition for listed and non-listed products - FIR & France Invest (2021)
- SDG Report - United Nations (2020)
- Progress Report - Climate Action 100 + (2020)
Various SRI labels help to inform investors and give SRI greater visibility.
SRI Label
Created by the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, this state label distinguishes "funds that invest in companies with responsible environmental, social and good governance practices".
FNG Label
SRI label for German-speaking countries with a rating system from 0 to 3 stars, depending on the degree of depth of the fund's ESG approach.
Towards Sustainability Label
Created by Febelfin (Belgian federation of the financial sector), this certification label aims to establish a quality standard for all the so-called "responsible" funds marketed in Belgium. This certification label emphasizes on the exclusion of controversial activities such as those related to coal and weapons.
Finansol Label
This French label attests to the solidarity nature of a financial product and takes into account transparency and information criteria. Created in 1995, the Finansol association brings together more than 70 companies, associations and financial institutions committed to a solidarity approach.
Geenfin Label
Formerly EETC Label (Energy and Ecological Transition for Climate): this state label, created by the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition, distinguishes thematic environmental funds.
Ethibel Label
This international label created by the Belgian association Forum Ethibel for SRI funds is available in two versions: one best-in-class (Ethibel Pioneer) and the other best-effort (Ethibel Excellence).
Luxflag Labels
Five European labels are issued by Luxembourg Fund Labelling Agency: Microfinance, Green Bonds, Environment, Climate and ESG, with their own specifications and a bias on the funds' contribution to the MDGs.
Relance Label
Launched by the French Ministry of the Economy, the “Relance” label is awarded to funds committed to mobilising new resources quickly to finance the equity and quasi-equity of French companies (SMEs and mid-caps), whether listed or unlisted. The aim of the label is to enable investors to easily identify investments that can meet the needs of businesses, thereby facilitating their contribution to the economic recovery.
Responsible investment is rich in acronyms and complex vocabulary that we invite you to discover through its definitions. Discover the definition of acronyms and vocabulary specific to the world of responsible investment.
Best-effort
This ESG selection favours issuers that demonstrate an improvement or good prospects for improving their ESG practices and performance over time.*
Best-in-class
This ESG selection favours the companies with the highest non-financial ratings within their sector of activity, without favouring or excluding any sector from the stock market index used as a basis for comparison. This approach ensures that the sector distribution of a fund is too far from that of its benchmark, unlike ESG thematic approaches for sectoral exclusions.
Best-in-universe
The ESG selection favours the companies with the highest extra financial ratings, regardless of their sector of activity, by assuming sectoral biases, since sectors that are generally considered more virtuous will be more represented.*
Carbon footprint
The carbon footprint measures the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in CO2 equivalent caused by a company's activity.
ESG
The ESG criteria (Environment, Social, Governance) are the 3 pillars of extra financial analysis. They make it possible to evaluate the Corporate Social Responsibility practices of companies.*
Exclusions
Whether sectoral, normative or ethical, exclusions ban from the investment universe funds or companies whose contributions are harmful to man or the environment.*
Solidarity Finance
Investments in solidarity-based products encourage the financing of companies or associations with high social and environmental benefits.
Sustainable Finance
Sustainable finance seeks to integrate extra-financial, environmental, social and governance criteria. Thus, it strives to reconcile financial profitability with social and environmental impact. It includes green finance as well as SRI or solidarity-based finance.
Green Finance
Green finance seeks to promote the energy transition and fight global warming.
Green Funds
These funds select the companies in which they invest mainly on environmental criteria. They are also called environmental funds.
Green Bonds
Green bonds are one of the main tools of green finance. These bonds are issued to limit global warming (e.g. solar power plant construction project).
Impact investing
Invest in companies, institutions and investment funds with the aim of generating a positive social and environmental impact in addition to a financial profit. This intentional impact must be measurable, measured and published in the fund's documentation.*** Impact investing is defined by three overarching principles which must be central to the investment process: intentionality, additionality and measurability.
SRI
Socially Responsible Investment is an investment that aims to reconcile economic performance with social and environmental impact by financing companies that contribute to sustainable development. SRI promotes a responsible economy.**
ODD
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations in 2015 aim to "eradicate poverty, protect the planet and guarantee prosperity for all" by 2030. They provide a roadmap for governments, the private sector and individuals to address global challenges, from reducing inequalities to developing clean and affordable energy.
PRI
Developed under the aegis of the United Nations in 2005, the six Principles for Responsible Investment represent a commitment on the part of their signatories to integrate ESG criteria into their management.
RSE
(Corporate Social Responsibility): This is the voluntary integration by companies of social and environmental concerns into their business activities and their relations with their stakeholders, according to the Brundtland Report.
Climate
All extreme weather events that characterise the state of the atmosphere in a specific area and for a given period.*
SFDR
Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation: European regulation that seeks to address the lack of harmonised rules on sustainability-related disclosures. It categorises products by the extent to which they factor in ESG criteria. There are three categories, each of which corresponds to a non-financial reporting constraint: products having sustainable investment as their impact objective (Article 9); products with environmental and/or social characteristics (Article 8); products ignoring sustainability risks (Article 6).
European taxonomy
EU classification of economic activities considered “green”. This common language highlights the activities essential to the ecological transition and a low-carbon economy. It also protects against greenwashing.
Intentionality
A desire on the part of the investor to help generate a measurable social or environmental impact. ****
Additionality
Specific and direct action or contribution of the investor that enables the investee company or the project financed to increase the net positive impact generated by its activities.****
Impact measurability
Assessment of the social and/or environmental externalities of investments, in light of the impact objectives intentionally pursued by the investor.****
Sources : LFDE, * Novethic ** AFG ***GIIN, ****FIR
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Our methodology
Our ESG analysis methodology is based on the systematic meeting of company managers focused on sustainable development issues.
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