As March marked "Women's History Month", the theme of the March 6th UN Women and UN Global Compact Gender Equality for Sustainable Business event supported the assertion that women are key assets in combating poverty, building their communities and to advancing progress toward a sustainable world.
With the lead-up to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (?Rio+20?), the concept of ?Impact Investing? will be among the key drivers in leading business towards a sustainable development path.? Rio+20 will seek to build a global consensus towards greater environmental, social and economic sustainability, and that gender equality and women?s empowerment will be at the heart of sustainable development. Women's empowerment yields strong economic returns and is critical to achieving a wide range of development and societal objectives.
Deloitte and the member firms of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (?DTTL?)[1] are strong supporters of the UN Global Compact and efforts to advance the dialogue that business solutions are critical to making a sustainable future a reality.? However, without 'enabling frameworks' in place to facilitate comparison and evaluation of the social enterprises driving such business solutions, efforts will lack scale and consistency. Deloitte brings an informed perspective to this debate, given our leadership in advancing the impact investing infrastructure development and standardized approaches to measurement of the social impacts of business and how those impacts influence financial returns.
?Impact Investing? is an increasingly popular buzzword, given the growing interest of investors in gaining greater insight into the wider impact on society generated through investments.? With the multiple approaches to and definitions of Impact Investing, it was critical to frame the collective thinking around common definitions to facilitate the development of an asset class to scale and drive increased private sector capital into this space.
Impact Investing, as defined in the 2010 J.P. Morgan Report, Impact Investments ? a new asset class, includes investing with the intention to create positive social or environmental impact alongside financial return. Impact investments are made around the world in mission driven for-profit social enterprises focusing on the base of the pyramid population, or traditionally underserved populations.? They target social and environmental issues, such as education, affordable housing, healthcare, clean water, and alternative energy, sectors that are traditionally underinvested due to conventional risk and return profile.?
The foundation of any industry is independent, credible standards for consistent measurement of performance. Deloitte assisted in the creation of the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), which provides a framework and common definitions for measuring social and environmental performance of impact investments. With this infrastructure, serving to bring order to the previously fragmented and inconsistent measurement practices, the Impact Investing industry has great potential to build an evidence base about the effectiveness of for-profit investment in addressing social and environmental challenges.? Deloitte?s work in this space, which also includes our role as a Pioneer Funder of the Global Impact Investing Ratings System (GIIRS), serves to advance our focus on assisting our clients in drawing linkages between company sustainability initiatives and investment in market-based solutions to scale sustainable economic development.
Kristen Sullivan
Partner
Deloitte & Touche LLP
[1]As used in this document, ?Deloitte? means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.? Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. ?Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.??
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