Impact investing metrics managed by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) are now commercially available, with the US non-profit organisation having struck a partnership with private markets tech firm Novata.
The GIIN’s IRIS+ metrics are intended to help impact investors translate their intentions for positive impact into measurable results. They are now integrated into Novata’s data management platform, which is tailored specifically for investing in private markets.
The partnership represents the first commercially available offering of the IRIS+ metrics, with GIIN looking to get other data providers to integrate the impact measurement tools on their platforms.
The move comes as investors have been struggling to incorporate impact metrics into data platforms due to a lack of standardised impact data and platform interoperability, noted the GIIN.
Sapna Shah, chief programme and operating officer at the GIIN, said the partnership was “a pivotal moment” in the impact investing industry.
“This partnership provides fund managers with the metrics they need to understand their impact and communicate it back to investors,” she said.
Lorraine Spradley Wilson, chief sustainability officer at Novata, added: “This integration will not only provide investors with valuable insights but also foster a more robust impact investing ecosystem.”
Novata had its commercial launch in April 2022. It is backed by the Ford Foundation, Hamilton Lane, Microsoft Omidyar Network and S&P Global. It has an ESG advisory council including Elizabeth Corley, chair of the Impact Investing Institute and former CEO of Allianz Global Investors, and Robert Eccles, founding chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and visiting professor at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
The GIIN promotes the use of standardised IRIS+ metrics in a bid to increase transparency, credibility and accountability in impact investing.
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