2026-10-14T13:12:00Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34054503 2026-10-02T05:35:56Z category_183 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_10_2026

Supplementary file 1_Impact-finance protocol for digital sustainable finance: institutional architecture for outcome-based capital allocation.pdf Kate Bennett (756777) Distributed Computing design science development finance digital sustainable finance impact finance impact-finance protocol institutional architecture regenerative finance sustainable finance Introduction<p>Modern financial systems are becoming increasingly digital, automated and data-driven. Yet the infrastructures linking trusted representations of real-world social and ecological performance to financial decision-making remain underdeveloped. This challenge is particularly acute within sustainable, impact and development finance, where capital allocation continues to rely heavily on retrospective reporting, proxy indicators and fragmented information flows.</p>Methods<p>This study addresses this gap through a design science approach, developing an Impact-Finance Protocol as a conceptual systems architecture for Digital Sustainable Finance. Drawing on systems mapping, comparative protocol analysis and the Integrated Capitals Assessment (ICA) framework, the research identifies the functional requirements for translating verified non-financial performance into adaptive financial processes.</p>Results<p>The resulting architecture comprises six interdependent protocol layers encompassing data, logic, value, governance, community and assessment. Together, these establish an integrated infrastructure through which verified impact information can inform financial decision-making, capital allocation and institutional governance within continuous feedback systems.</p>Discussion<p>Rather than proposing a new financial instrument, the protocol reconceptualises finance as an adaptive information system in which trusted digital infrastructure enables financial flows to respond dynamically to verified real-world conditions. The paper contributes a novel systems architecture for Digital Sustainable Finance and provides a conceptual foundation for future empirical research into blockchain-enabled, AI-enabled and other programmable financial infrastructures supporting sustainable, impact and development finance.</p> 2026-10-02T05:35:56Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fbloc.2026.1947009.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_file_1_Impact-finance_protocol_for_digital_sustainable_finance_institutional_architecture_for_outcome-based_capital_allocation_pdf/34054503 CC BY 4.0