Heading for Change Tools
Below you will find our open-source suite of underlying tools, resources and other frameworks to support investors, philanthropists, intermediaries and other actors in understanding what and how it looks to deploy capital at the climate and gender finance nexus.
The Heading for Change Investment Toolkit & Guidance is the culmination of two years of brainstorming, building, iterating, and investing. It builds off foundational tools and frameworks in climate, gender and broader systemic investing approaches.
These flexible and customizable tools helped us to construct our portfolio of 18 private market climate funds. They have been created to guide investment decisions, and also empower a growing community of investors, advisors, and changemakers to build and execute an integrated climate and gender investment strategy. While each investor will approach this work with their own values, priorities and constraints, the toolkit is designed to support a confident transition from intention to action.
At a Glance:
Investment Guide - a step-by-step guide to climate and gender investing in private markets
Climate and Gender DDQ- a due diligence questionnaire assessing how funds integrate climate and gender considerations
Scorecard Tool - to evaluate funds/opportunities against key investment metrics and criteria
Portfolio Construction Tool - a tool to design target portfolios based on key criteria and track progress as the portfolio evolves over time
Heading for Change’s Investment Criteria - defining principles, concepts and guardrails to advance the investment strategy
Invest Climate Gender Platform- a digital platform with a growing opportunity set of private market climate and gender funds
This toolkit is designed for a wide range of users, whether you are working at the climate-gender nexus or just beginning your journey.
It supports high-net-worth individuals and family offices seeking to deploy capital at this intersection, institutional allocators integrating a climate and gender strategy into their investment mandates, and advisors or intermediaries helping clients apply an integrated lens to their portfolios. It is also for anyone simply curious about how to move climate capital in a more inclusive way.
We hope it serves as a springboard for deeper engagement, more rigorous due diligence, and more inclusive investment.
Step into action
Getting Started
If you are craving practical guidance as you implement a climate and gender investing strategy, check out:
Our step-by-step Investment Guide to support your investment thesis and the strategy
Section 3 of the Insights Report that includes an analytical framework, and case studies
For questions you can integrate into your investment process, take a look at this Impact Alpha article and page 59 of our Insights Report.
Going Deeper
If you’re actively investing capital at the climate-gender nexus and looking to refine your practices or deepen implementation, check out:
Strategy & Thesis
Review our Investment Criteria to help you refine and build
This Portfolio Construction tool can help define core parameters, articulate strategic priorities and help track alignment over time as the portfolio evolves
Pipeline & Opportunities
Find a curated selection of climate and gender investment opportunities on the Invest Climate Gender platform
Connect with mission-aligned investor communities (e.g Toniic, Prime Coalition, AVPN) to identify opportunities and support
Due Diligence
The Investment Scorecard can help score investments, compare deals during screening or be part of a broader evaluation process
As you unpack the commitment and intentionality of climate and gender, and how these lenses inform the processes and practices through which value and impact are created, then the Climate & Gender Integration Due Diligence Questionnaire (DDQ) is for you
Curious
If you are early in your journey and curious what climate and gender investing means in practice:
Review sections 1 and 2 of our Insights Report on the “what, why, and why now” of gender and climate investing and how capital can drive resilient outcomes
Quick link: Infographic
Next, review our Investment Strategy and Portfolio at a Glance to see what this looks like in practice