Dutch ethical investment firm Triodos Investment Management (Triodos IM) secured a sustainability reporting award for its €350 million ($375 million) Euro Bond Impact Fund.

A Sustainable Investing Awards judge praised the fund's sustainability reporting – in particular, its impact report – for being "easy to understand" but also for providing "strong evidence" around both its impact delivered and influence through engagement activities.

Triodos IM portfolio manager Jeroen van Herwaarden told Environmental Finance the asset manager has developed a methodology which allows it to assess the impact of regular bonds and use-of-proceeds green and social bonds in the same way, for example.

"Impact measurement and reporting is an evolving discipline," van Herwaarden said. "It's never about maintaining the status quo but about continuously striving for a better understanding of real change happening in the real world."

For example, van Herwaarden – who manages the fund alongside Rosl Veltmeijer and William de Vries – added that "improved data quality" has allowed the fund to better align and define the contribution of its investments to its five 'transition themes': food, energy, resource, societal, and wellbeing.

Van Herwaarden said the Euro Bond Impact Fund impact reporting balances providing "number and stories" to describe impact, and also includes a "detailed explanation" of the impact metrics used to provide a "full, coherent picture" of the impact delivered.

In addition, the fund specifies the engagement activities undertaken with its top 10 holdings as well as sustainability risks and opportunities these issuers face. The fund report also details the unique risks and opportunities posed to the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters and biodiversity 'laggards' in its portfolio.