Financing Global Development – Leveraging Impact Investing for the SDGs
On 21 and 22 November, impact investing thought leaders and experts convened in Berlin to discuss the role of impact investing for achieving the SDGs:
How can we align impact metrics with the SDGs? What could be the role of networks to institutionalize impact measurement and management? How can we incentivize impact in impact investing? How can policy makers promote impact investments?
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in cooperation with the OECD and supported by BMW Foundation invited thought leaders and experts to a two-day event on the role of impact investing for the 2030 Agenda. In the context of the German Presidency of the G20, the objective of the event was to link governments and the international development cooperation with the impact investing community, to foster mutual learning and joint action towards financing the SDGs.
A core characteristic and challenge of impact investing is the measurement and management of social and environmental impact alongside financial returns. Therefore, the first day of the event focused on the role of impact management in financing small and growing businesses in developing and emerging markets. Development cooperation and impact investing communities can build on their respective experience in results measurement and learn from and with each other.
Further, governments and development cooperation are searching for ways to promote impact investments including through adequate policy instruments. Implemented in cooperation with the OECD, a policy workshop on the second day of the event convened key players from developed and developing countries to discuss the policy aspects of impact investing and to build connections amongst policy makers interested or already engaged in promoting impact investments.
More than 150 thought leaders and experts from over 30 countries actively engaged in the event. Reflecting both the complexity as well as the potential for further collaboration, participants represented a diverse set of organisations incl. investee businesses, fund managers, investors, ecosystem facilitators, development finance institutions, development agencies, foundations, NGOs, academia and governments.
Impact investing and inclusive business
Acknowledging the relevance of impact investments for inclusive businesses and in order to streamline the policy discussions in both fields, the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN) helped to mobilise policy makers e.g. from Argentina, Laos and Thailand who also work on inclusive business to participate in the event and share their insights.
The objective of the event was to link governments and the international development cooperation with the impact investing community, to foster mutual learning and joint action towards financing the SDGs. For more information and outcomes of the discussions find the full event repor there (pdf).
Read the study:
´Nudging the investment ecosystem by incentivizing impact´ (pdf).
