Guiding your investments: Enhancing responsible investing with the taxonomy’s minimum safeguards
International standards as our foundation
The Peace Finance Impact Framework is built on internationally recognised instruments, including:
- The International Bill of Human Rights
- The United Nations Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
- The International Labor Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
- The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (including the environmental chapter)
- The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
These instruments form the minimum environmental and social safeguards that guide our investment decisions.
Adapting to emerging global standards
Looking ahead, we are ready to integrate new standards as they emerge:
- The proposed European Union Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, once enacted, will become a part of our minimum safeguards. That said, the use of the Peace Finance Standard provides the assurances that the heightened due diligence and meaningful stakeholder engagement criteria under the directive are met.
- National initiatives like the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and the Netherlands Responsible and Sustainable International Business Conduct Act will also be included as they come into force.
The AAAQ framework: A tool for responsible provision of goods and services
We also embrace the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality (AAAQ) concept by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
- Availability: ensuring sufficient quantity of a good or service
- Accessibility: making sure goods and services are affordable, physically reachable, non-discriminatory, and accompanied by relevant information
- Acceptability: providing goods and services in an ethically and culturally appropriate manner
- Quality: guaranteeing safety and adherence to internationally recognised standards.
Applying AAAQ in our investments
The AAAQ concept is not just a guideline – it is a practical tool for measuring impacts, screening for do-no-harm principles and establishing minimum social safeguards. In our taxonomy, investments that inherently benefit peace and meet these AAAQ criteria are considered eligible.
