Aurelie Pollak
- @Aurel
- | She/Her
This glossary is meant to demystify the finance lingo.
Finance: Managing money to fund projects or investments.
Financial Instrument / Vehicle: Tools used to invest or raise money, like stocks, bonds, or loans.
Blended Finance: Public and private money combined to fund projects with social or environmental goals.
Concessional finance: An instrument with below-market interest, often to support development or conservation.
Nature Finance: Investment in nature-positive outcomes, like restoring forests or protecting biodiversity.
Micro-credit: Very small loans given to individuals, often in poor or rural areas, to start small businesses.
Loan: Money borrowed that must be paid back later, usually with added interest
Bonds: A way for governments or companies to borrow money from investors, with a promise to repay it with interest. A bond can be traded on public markets
Sovereign Bonds: Bonds issued by national governments to raise money, repaid with interest.
Green, Social, and Sustainable (GSS) Bonds: Bonds that fund projects with environmental, social, or combined positive impacts. The Green Bond Principles (by ICMA) are often used as guidelines to define what is a GSS bond. Otherwise, GSS bonds are mostly self-labeled
ESG: Stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. There is no standard definition, but it is mostly used as indicator of risks on financial assets, but linked to non-financial criteria. ESG investing limits those risks, unlike impact investing, which targets positive outcomes.
Impact Investment: Investments aimed at generating both financial return and positive impact.
Impact Investor: An investor focused on both financial return and positive impact.
Impact Fund: A fund focused on investments with social or environmental benefits.
Impact Metrics: Tools to measure the environmental or social effects of an investment.
Institutional Investor: Big organizations (like pension funds or insurers) that invest large sums of money.
Fund: A pool of money collected from investors to be invested in assets.
Fund Manager: Person or firm that decides how to invest the fund’s money.
ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund): A fund (pool of assets) traded on a public market like a stock
Liquidity: How easily an asset can be bought or sold.
Illiquid Investments: Hard-to-sell assets, like land or private equity.
Maturity (of an investment): The time when a loan or bond must be repaid.
Long-term Investment: Investments held for many years (usually more than 8-10 years), often for steady growth or impact.
Seed Investment / Seed Capital: Early funding to start a new project or company.
Venture Capital: High-risk investment in startups, aiming for high returns.
Natural Capital: Nature’s resources like forests, water, and biodiversity seen as economic assets.
Carbon Credit: A permit to emit one ton of CO₂, used in carbon markets.
Biodiversity Credits: Credits earned by protecting or restoring biodiversity, used to offset impacts.
Sustainable Land Use: Managing land to meet human needs while protecting nature.
TNFD: Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, NGO providing a framework on corporate reporting on nature to be used as a tool for portfolio risk management. Most likely the reporting framework that will be adopted by governments and industry to report on nature-related metrics
You cannot find your word here?
It is a living resource so please comment below if you would like to see another word added here or more detailed definitions.
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How to speak investors’ language?
Aurelie Pollak
To effectively engage with an investor, it's best to grasp key financial and strategic concepts, and understand how an investor thinks. Let's cover the basics
23 July 2025
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