The buzz around impact investment is growing ever louder. The rationale behind it is undeniably compelling: drive positive, measurable change to help address some of the world’s biggest challenges while generating financial returns to boot.
Yet the reality of measuring impact is fraught with complexity, subjectivity and, in many cases, oversimplification, which risks undermining the essential change it aims to achieve.
So how can investors differentiate between impact ‘washing’ and investment strategies that are genuinely delivering sustainable real-world results?
Methods and standards for measuring financial returns have been established and refined over many decades. By contrast, we are only taking our first steps on the journey to assessing non-financial value and it demands a somewhat different mindset.
Read the full comment in ESG Clarity‘s July digital magazine here.
