TS ISO 14097

TS ISO 14097 is a framework standard that brings together principles, requirements, and guidance for assessing and reporting investments and financing activities related to climate change. Its central concern is how a financier’s decisions relate to the low-carbon transition, adaptation, and broader climate goals.

Understanding the climate effect of financing decisions

The standard provides a general assessment approach intended for investors and lenders. The key issue is not only measuring exposure in a portfolio, but also considering how financial decisions influence mitigation, resilience, and the transition in the real economy. In this context, “alignment” refers to whether financing decisions are consistent with low-carbon transition pathways and climate goals, while “impact” refers to the contribution those decisions make to emissions outcomes and adaptation results.

A conceptual framework for measurement, monitoring, and reporting

As general technical context, the framework addresses target setting, the selection of metrics to track progress, the identification of investees’ transition and adaptation trajectories, and the documentation of causal links between climate action and outputs, outcomes, and impacts. It also guides the assessment of climate-related risks to owners of financial assets. In practice, this helps structure climate-related information across different asset types such as listed equities, private equity, bonds, and loans in a more consistent way.

The standard provides a shared terminology and reporting approach for financiers and for the third parties they report to, including shareholders, clients, policymakers, financial supervisory authorities, and non-governmental organizations. In that sense, TS ISO 14097 is a reference for making climate-finance reporting more structured, traceable, and comparable at a conceptual level.