This report and spreadsheet detail the development and operational principles of the Leuven Impact Framework, designed to evaluate societal co-benefits generated by projects within the Leuven Climate Portfolio.
Quantification of impacts for a Climate Action Portfolio - A model for the City of Leuven REPORT
Efforts to secure financing for the Leuven Climate Portfolio revealed that, while these projects are deemed highly valuable for the climate transition, their direct financial returns are low, even by impact investment standards. Consequently, feedback from the financial sector suggested that providing more quantified insights into the co-benefits would be beneficial for attracting impact capital. Although these projects might not directly benefit investors financially, they offer substantial indirect societal benefits. To attract impact investors interested in such projects, these societal co-benefits must be clarified and quantified wherever possible, including assigning monetary values to the co-benefits, even if they do not result in direct investor gains.
The first iteration of a framework to answer this need was developed at the end of 2024 as a proof of concept. While it did not provide a full calculated set of indicators yet, feedback from the financial sector indicated that the initiative was on the right path. This report describes the second phase of framework development, resulting in a more comprehensive version with additional indicators and improved calculation methodologies. The resulting version of the impact framework is considered a sufficiently robust version 1.0 that can be used reliably to benchmark co-impacts of climate projects in Leuven, as well as in other cities.
Through five practical cases, the Leuven Impact Framework was elaborated to encompass calculation methods for co-benefits within 8 different interventions, spanning all five emission domains. This approach ensures that the calculation methods are grounded in realistic cases and are usable via very simple and easily attainable project KPI’s and inputs. The developed template allows for quick benchmarking, while the comprehensive indicator list transparently reports on calculation methods and can be used as a starting point for more in-depth analyses.
This page will be updated with a Q&A document.
In case any partners would like to take further steps with the material provided, we’d really appreciate staying involved where relevant. Please reach out to mira.conci@climate-kic.org.