Transformation Pathways Initiative: safeguards for sustainable and responsible industrial investment

How can investment in industry help cut emissions without neglecting people or the environment? The Transformation Pathways Initiative (TPI) offers an answer: promoting sustainable industrial investment backed by an environmental and social policy and management system. What is more, Peru is one of the ten participating countries.

In September 2026, the initiative’s Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures were made public. In this article, we explain what the TPI is, which areas it focuses on and why it may matter for industrial parks and their companies.

What is the Transformation Pathways Initiative?

The TPI seeks to promote sustainable industrial investment, that is, investments that help transform industrial and agri-food systems towards low-carbon, climate-resilient models. For this reason, its approach covers both climate change mitigation and adaptation to its effects.

The initiative is designed to work in two ways: through direct investments in companies and projects, and through financial institutions that, in turn, can reach small and medium-sized enterprises. It also focuses mainly on established industrial zones, with an emphasis on upgrading existing facilities and improving efficiency.

The TPI is managed by Finance in Motion Asset Management.

Four areas for sustainable industrial investment

The initiative focuses on four main areas:

• Renewable energy for industry: solar, wind and battery storage systems.
• Resource efficiency and circular economy: energy and process efficiency upgrades in sectors such as textiles, cement, food processing, agribusiness and metals, as well as low-carbon recycling and waste management.
• Electrification and sustainable fuels: for example, industrial heat pumps, induction heating, switching to bioenergy (biomass or biogas) and electric vehicles and infrastructure.
• Climate-smart inputs: climate-smart agriculture and bio-based materials and inputs.

Peru among the participating countries

The TPI covers ten countries: Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Serbia, South Africa and Uzbekistan.

Peru’s participation is an opportunity for the national industrial sector to learn, from now on, about the environmental and social criteria that guide this type of investment.

Environmental and social safeguards at the heart of the initiative

To manage the risks of its investments, the TPI has an Environmental and Social Policy and an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS). This system makes it possible to identify, assess, mitigate and monitor the risks and impacts of each investment throughout its entire cycle.

Principles that guide the policy

• Precautionary approach: anticipating and addressing risks before they become harm.
• Mitigation hierarchy: first avoid impacts; where that is not possible, minimise, mitigate or remedy them.
• Stakeholder engagement: meaningful and inclusive consultation, with special attention to women, Indigenous Peoples and vulnerable groups.
• Alignment with the Paris Agreement.
• Gender equality and human rights across all investment activities.
• Respect for Indigenous Peoples, including their free, prior and informed consent where required.

Requirements for companies and projects

All entities that receive TPI investment must meet minimum requirements. These include:

• Complying with national environmental, social and labour laws.
• Having an environmental and social management system proportionate to their risks.
• Ensuring working conditions in line with the ILO fundamental conventions: no forced or child labour, no discrimination, freedom of association and a safe and healthy workplace.
• Having a mechanism to handle enquiries and complaints in local languages.
• Preventing and addressing sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.
• Respecting internationally recognised human rights.

In addition, the initiative applies an exclusion list and only considers moderate- or low-risk investments. Projects with significant or irreversible environmental or social risks are therefore left out. When a company does not yet fully meet a standard, the policy allows for an agreed action plan to close those gaps within a reasonable time frame.

A grievance mechanism open to everyone

The TPI has a grievance mechanism available to workers, communities, clients and other stakeholders. In this way, anyone can raise concerns safely and confidentially, with protection against retaliation.

What opportunities does it offer industrial parks and their companies?

Knowing these criteria early makes it easier to anticipate how sustainable industrial investment could fit the reality of each park and each company. In this sense, the TPI could facilitate investments that benefit different actors.

For industrial parks

The initiative may offer an opportunity to structure joint projects, develop shared infrastructure and promote solutions that benefit several companies at once, in areas such as renewable energy, resource efficiency or the circular economy. This collective approach is closely aligned with the Eco-Industrial Park model promoted by PEI Peru.

For companies

For companies, it can help reduce operating costs, improve productivity, lower emissions and strengthen their environmental and social performance. Moreover, many TPI requirements —an environmental and social management system, fair working conditions or a grievance channel— are good practices that companies can start strengthening today.

Documents available for consultation

The TPI Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures have been published in English and in the languages of the participating countries, including Spanish. Their disclosure is for information purposes and aims to help stakeholders understand the criteria that guide the initiative.

At PEI Peru, we will keep sharing information on initiatives that support the sustainable transition of the country’s industrial parks.