Managing and measuring the impact of sustainable investments
A two-axes mapping
To mobilise and align finance to the SDGs, and, most importantly, to achieve impact,
both public and private actors need to implement effective impact measurement and
management practices. Impact management enables investors, enterprises and other stakeholders
to include positive and negative impact considerations into investment and business
decisions. Impact measurement allows organisations to set impact objectives, monitor
impact performance and evaluate impact.
The increasing focus of investors on “impact” has led to the development of a large
number of principles, frameworks, standards, certifications, tools and indicators
for impact management and measurement. The crowded nature of this space and the multiplicity
and different understanding of terms and concepts makes it hard to navigate.
This paper attempts to bring some clarity in this space, by proposing a two-axes mapping
of the existing (i) principles, (ii) frameworks and methodologies, (iii) standards,
certifications and ratings and (iv) metrics and indicators to manage and measure impact
of sustainable investments targeting the SDGs.
In addition, the paper applies the mapping approach to a series of existing initiatives,
highlighting the complexity and range of principles, frameworks, methodologies, standards
and metrics that exist to measure and manage impact and providing interesting initial
insights into the level of consensus in the space of investing for sustainable development.
Published on June 03, 2020
In series:OECD Development Co-operation Working Papersview more titles