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CONDA.ch
Impact Investment Framework

Our approach to impact investments
simply explained - as support for
your decision to invest sustainably.
For questions or feedback on our framework,
please get in touch at team@conda.ch
We look forward to hearing from you!

Generate Real Impact with your Investments

If you as an investor want to make an impact with your assets, the most direct way to do this, is by investing in privately held companies, which you can then provide with additional capital for growth. However, this asset class is often reserved for professional investors.
CONDA.ch Crowdinvestments gives you access to this asset class. You can find more information on this in the CONDA.ch investment guide.
If you buy equity funds, ETFs or shares in a company on the stock exchange, this does not provide the company with any additional capital. While there are various approaches to generating impact in this asset class (divestment strategies, engagement, etc.), this is much more difficult to measure and prove.

Start-ups and SMEs are important drivers for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 goals of the United Nations, which were agreed as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These include goals such as no poverty (no. 1), affordable and clean energy (no. 7) and sustainable consumption (no. 12), to name just a few.
Start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises employ a large proportion of the workforce in most countries around the world (between 53% and 86% in OECD countries) and are an important driver of innovation that contributes to achieving the SDGs.
As a crowd investor in these companies, you can therefore make a direct contribution.

Principles of the CONDA.ch Impact Framework

As we want to counter the greenwashing trend in the financial industry, we are as transparent as possible with our approach. We have therefore set out a few principles here in advance:

You make the decision:

 

We want to create the necessary transparency so that you can assess for yourself whether you consider a company to be sustainable or not. That's why we at Conda do not provide a quantitative rating. Instead, we show you where the company is exemplary and where it might still improve in terms of sustainability.

Our "double materiality" approach:

Many ESG ratings primarily have an "outside-in" perspective: How do certain ESG risks affect the profitability of the company? The double materiality concept adds the "inside-out" perspective to this approach. This means that the impact of the company and its activities on people and nature is also considered. In addition to the financial analysis, our screening is primarily concerned with this "inside-out" perspective.

 

Supporting companies:

We want to accompany companies on their path to sustainability. The CONDA.ch Impact Framework should be a possible tool for sharing with the community the successes already achieved, but also the opportunities for improvement before, during and after a campaign. Transparency with regard to sustainability should ultimately be a regular topic for the investor community.

 

The CONDA.ch impact categories

When considering sustainability methodologies, there are usually two questions:
  1. What does the company produce, or what kind of service does it offer? Do these make a positive or negative contribution to society and the environment?
  2. How are the products or services produced and provided? Are raw material procurement, production methods and working practices in line with various standards?
As companies approach the topic of sustainability in different ways, we divide them into two groups:

Sustainable business

A sustainable business wants to provide its products and services in accordance with sustainable standards in relation to people and nature. These companies have a vision of operating sustainably, but without creating an explicit impact through their products and services.
We follow the Impact Management Platform's definition of a "sustainability-aligned organization": "Companies, investors and financial institutions whose purpose is not to create positive impact, but whose vision is to operate sustainably. In other words, these organizations seek to operate in accordance with minimum sustainability requirements for people and the natural environment [...]".

We consider the following criteria when assessing a sustainable business:

 

Corporate strategy:
  • The topic of sustainability is deeply anchored in the company, e.g. via company values, mission or vision. The company has a clear positioning on the topic of sustainability and this is also publicly visible (e.g. on a website).
  • The company is open about its strengths, but also about opportunities for improvement in relation to its own sustainability (e.g. via communication on the website, in blog articles).
  • The company has an understanding of the various stakeholders who are affected by the company's work and the impacts on these stakeholders.
Material sourcing / value chain:
  • The company has a detailed understanding of the entire supply chain (upstream and downstream) and potential risks in the supply chain with regard to sustainability.
  • The company sources local and certified raw materials where possible (where applicable).
  • Production sites: The company produces within Switzerland or the EU. If this is not the case, it should be communicated transparently why this is not the case.
  • Transportation: The transportation of materials and goods should be as environmentally friendly as possible.
Environment:
  • Energy: The company only uses CO2-neutral energy or has a concrete plan to implement this. In the best case, this also applies to suppliers.
  • Waste: The company reduces waste wherever possible and recycles waste (waste concept).
  • Water: The company minimizes its own water consumption with various measures.
  • Emissions: Ideally, the company has a good understanding of its CO2 emissions (Scope 1, 2, 3) at product or company level and has a concrete plan to reduce them further.
  • Consumption of nature / biodiversity: The company has a basic understanding of its impact on natural resources and biodiversity (circular economy).
Social:
  • The company employs staff on permanent contracts wherever possible.
  • The company avoids suppliers who outsource entire work processes to subcontractors. If this is the case, it should be justified.

Impact Business

In addition to the criteria mentioned above, impact business also explicitly aim for positive effects of products and services on the environment and society.
Here we follow the Impact Management Platform's definition of a "sustainability-focused organization": "Companies, investors and financial institutions for which the achievement of positive impact is an integral part of their purpose and objectives (referred to as sustainability-focused organizations in the context of the measures). [...] Impact management here is a central part of the organization's strategy. The organization's strategy revolves around the specific positive impacts it wishes to contribute to and a theory of change to achieve them."

In order to determine the impact on the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we answer the following questions together with the company (based on the IRIS+ Due Diligence Framework):

  • What is the company's (positive) impact? Has it already been mapped to one or more UN Development Goals (SDGs) and their sub-goals?
  • Who is affected? Who (people or environment) is positively impacted by the products? Are they possibly part of marginalized groups / minorities?
  • How much? Quantification of the impact (if available)

 

 

"Perfect is the enemy of good"
The above criteria are only a selection. Not all of them have to be met to be considered a sustainable or impact business on Conda. The impoortant point is that we recognize that the company is taking the topic seriously and is thinking strategically about sustainability. It also depends on the individual company which factors are really relevant (keyword materiality). As these are often start-ups and SMEs with limited resources, we also refrain from overly detailed quantitative metrics and analyses. We try to provide you with the necessary information for a well-founded decision on the respective campaign page. If you have any questions, you can of course contact the company or us.

Sources and additional information: