Common & Emerging Practices

The Operating Principles for Impact Management (the “Impact Principles” or “OPIM”) are the global standard for integrating impact throughout the investment lifecycle.  Composed of a set of nine principles, they provide an end-to-end framework to define industry best practices and promote transparency, discipline, and credibility for impact management practice in capital markets.  

Signatories to the Impact Principles commit to aligning their impact systems, processes and policies with each of the nine principles. Principle 9 requires all Signatories to publish annual Disclosure Statements describing their alignment and to have that alignment independently verified on a regular basis. These Disclosure Statements and verification summaries are made publicly available on both the Signatories’ and Impact Principles’ websites, promoting transparency and enabling peer benchmarking information on how different investors manage for impact. 

Taken together, the Disclosure Statements serve as a valuable public resource for understanding the state of impact practice today.  In the five years since the first Disclosure Statements were published, the impact investing market has matured. Likewise, the ways that Signatories align with the Impact Principles and design and report on their impact systems have evolved.  

There are now notable common practices, where the market has approached consensus about which practices are expected across robust impact systems. Meanwhile, emerging practices have appeared, which are increasingly common but not yet widespread.  These practices may be context-specific for certain types of investors or represent efforts to raise the bar for impact practice, potentially becoming more standard in the coming years.   Finally, there are nascent practices, which are beginning to appear in a few Disclosure Statements and represent the potential frontier of rigorous impact practice or a gap in current practice.

The purpose of this new series of resources, Common & Emerging Practices in Implementation of the Impact Principles, is to provide an overview of these common, emerging, and nascent practices in the implementation of the Impact Principles. The resources draw on an analysis of nearly 170 recent Disclosure Statements conducted by the Impact Principles Secretariat.  They include Signatory Practice Spotlights, featuring concrete examples of approaches taken by different Signatories across investor types, asset classes and geographies. Complemented by targeted insights and observations across each of the nine Principles, these publications aim to provide a wide-ranging illustration of the state of impact practice today, its likely evolution, and practical tools for improving impact management practices. Elevating impact practice, both as individual investors and as a field, is critical to ensuring that the capital markets are mobilized at scale and with integrity to drive meaningful impact outcomes.    
 

The series of resources related to Common & Emerging Practices in Implementation of the Impact Principles will be released in three phases: 

• ~ 2025 May: Website publication of initial drafts for each of the nine Principles in series, including Signatory Practice Spotlights
• ~ 2025 June: Target soft release of consolidated report
• ~ 2025 JAugust: Final publication reflecting stakeholder feedback
  
  
   

Common, Emerging and Nascent Practices based on Analysis of Signatory Disclosure Statements

The findings and observations are primarily based on a manual in-depth review by the Impact Principles Secretariat of 166 disclosure statements published or newly submitted by Signatories for review in early to mid-2024. All Signatories to Impact Principles are required to submit an annual Disclosure Statement describing how each principle is incorporated into its investment system and process. Therefore, founding Signatories have completed their fourth Disclosure Statement at the time of the analysis while others have submitted their first, second or third. New Signatories must submit the first disclosure within one calendar year of signing the Signatory Letter. 

Disclosure Statements were analyzed for investor alignment with key components of each of the nine Principles or specific practices to identify the areas of common, emerging, and nascent practices by Signatories in applying the Impact Principles. 

• Common practices: At least half (50-100 percent) of Signatories disclose the same or similar practices indicating convergence in the implementation of the Impact Principles.
• Emerging practices: 25 to <50 percent of Signatories disclose the same or similar practices indicating emerging practices that are gaining traction.
• Nascent practices: <25 percent of Signatories disclose the same or similar practices indicating advanced or specialized practices or gaps.   

The Impact Principles are applicable to all types of investors including different asset classes, sizes, sectors, and geographies. Therefore, specific practices in how the Impact Principles are implemented may vary across investor types. The analysis took into consideration these varying ranges of similar practices.   
 

Additional Observation in Practices 

Additional observations on notable developments in specific practices are based on a limited number of disclosures or the Secretariat’s ongoing engagements with Signatories and ecosystem partners, which are captured to provide further reference points.   
 

Signatory Practice Spotlights

To bring insights to life and provide concrete examples, Signatory disclosures with notable practices corresponding to the common and emerging practices are listed as references with brief descriptions. Based on Signatory feedback requesting a broad range of specific and practical examples, the report chose to provide a larger number of short, concrete practice spotlights including visual exhibits where available, rather than a small number of long, in-depth case studies. Special attention was paid to curate examples across a diverse mix of investor types, asset classes, sectors, and geographies. A limited number of Signatory examples may be selected for deeper-dive case studies in the future.   
 

Additional Observations in Disclosures and Related Guidance

Additional observations on Signatories’ disclosures, including type, pattern, levels of detail, and placement of specific information, are captured with suggested general guidance and recommendations. These recommendations are provided with the intent to enhance the consistency, comparability, and usefulness of the information provided in disclosure statements by Signatories to further support transparency and advancement of best practices in the field.   (In Planning)
 

Limitations and Disclaimer 

The analysis was conducted for the purposes of capturing trends in common and emerging practices and notable observations based primarily on manual review of the Disclosure Statements by the Secretariat. Given the self-reported nature and the wide diversity of investors and asset classes, there is a varying degree of detail of information that Signatories provide in the Disclosure Statements. There may be additional details on the actual implementation by Signatories that will be included in subsequent Disclosure Statements as these common practices become more widely adopted and are expected of investors in their disclosures. Therefore, it is possible that the current report underestimates the adoption and implementation of certain practices.

Further, human error in the Secretariat’s review and recording of information, inconsistencies in how and where Signatories disclose certain information, and how specific practices are categorized for counting may also affect the preciseness and conclusion of the analysis. 

The information provided in this Common & Emerging Practices publication is intended to be a high-level curation of trends and notable practices (as of mid 2024*) to help inform further inquiries and actions to enhance impact practices. It should not be taken as precise data, prescriptive direction, or a substitute for the Operating Principles for Impact Management document (which you can download at the Impact Principles website).     

*The Impact Principles Secretariat intends to update the information in this document on a regular basis via new versions or publications.