In June 2021, the Institute submitted its response to the Department for Work and Pensions’ consultation on the consideration of social risks and opportunities by occupational pension schemes. The Institute strongly welcomes the consultation’s foresight in recognising the increasing importance of social factors for investing.

In our first impact report for 2019-20, we are reflecting on our achievements of our first year and are looking ahead to how we can work towards our goal of improving people’s lives, as more capital contributes to addressing social and environmental challenges.

In April 2021, the Institute submitted its response to the Local Authority Pension Funds All-Party Parliamentary Group’s (APPG’s) inquiry into Responsible Investment for a Just Transition. The Institute believes that it is important to address both the consequences of climate change and the social impact of a transition to a net-zero carbon economy.

The fifth session of the Institute’s Knowledge Exchange Series explored how National Advisory Boards (NABs) on impact investing and other market-building organisations can build up the skills, knowledge and capacities on impact investing of key local stakeholders, including investors and policy-makers.

The forth session of the Knowledge Exchange Series continued to explore the role of impact investing National Advisory Boards (NABs) as market navigators. This session focussed on how NABs can effectively engage with and support demand-side impact actors including enterprises.

The third session of the Knowledge Exchange Series explored the role of National Advisory Boards (NABs) on impact investing as market navigators. The discussion focused on how NABs can engage with and strengthen their value proposition for the supply-side of capital (including investors, asset managers and asset owners) – and featured an intervention from BlueOrchard Finance, a leading impact investor.

In February 2021, the Institute submitted its response to the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Discussion Paper, ‘A Matter of Principles: The Future of Corporate Reporting.’

We have created an Impact Investing Learning Framework for providers of investment qualifications and trainings, such as professional bodies and trade associations. The framework was developed by a Learning Panel made up of representatives from across the impact investing sector, including Barclays, Aberdeen Standard Investments and Bridges Fund Management.

In December 2020, the Institute submitted its response to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation’s Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting. The Institute warmly welcomes the proposal of the IFRS Foundation and commends the Foundation for taking this significant first step. We believe the Foundation is well-placed to set sustainability reporting standards which are relevant to enterprise value because of its strong experience in setting international accounting standards.

We developed four guiding principles for pension schemes that give an accessible, practical insight into the opportunity presented by impact investing and the concrete steps trustees can take to pursue an impact investing strategy.

We produced a paper that explains how fiduciary duty and impact investing are compatible, written and attested by five leading law firms and reviewed by a number of other lawyers and experts.

Many pensions are already investing with impact and provide useful examples for others to learn from. Pensioenfonds voor het Slagersbedrijf, the pension fund for the Dutch butchers’ industry with AUM of c. €2.5 billion is one of them.

Together with the Green Finance Institute and the LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, we published a proposal for a Green+ Gilt that emphasises the strategic potential for a green sovereign bond to scale up the UK’s drive to a net-zero carbon economy with well-defined social and economic benefits.

This briefing paper makes the case for mandatory public interest reporting and the integration of environmental, social and economic outcome themes and metrics in annual reports published by organisations.

As part of the Institute’s Knowledge Exchange Series we run a series of roundtables with National Advisory Boards (NABs) on impact investing in other countries, which provide a platform for mutual learning and practical knowledge sharing between NABSs to help strengthen impact investing markets globally. The second session covered governance and sustainability.

The Impact Investing Institute, together with the Good Economy and Pensions for Purpose, is working on a collaborative project aimed at mobilising more flows of institutional investment to address place-based inequalities and support more inclusive and sustainable development across the UK.

In June 2020, the Impact Investing Institute responded to the European Commission’s consultation on the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive making a case for the global convergence and increased adoption of high-quality standards for measurement, management and reporting of environmental and social outcomes.

This report, by the Impact Investing Institute in partnership with Deloitte, highlights that while progress in impact reporting practice is being made, the challenges to effective impact reporting practice are great.

The final report by the Implementation Taskforce looks at how to grow a culture of social impact investment and savings in the UK and highlights the progress made in the first year of the Taskforce.

This paper provides an introduction to the broader context of impact reporting, which illustrates the link between social and environmental impact reporting and investment decisions.

This report offers a five-point strategy to harness impact investing and purposeful business to help tackle some of the UK’s most pressing societal challenges at scale.