What is impact verification?
Impact verification is the assessment of an investor’s impact measurement and management (IMM) practices and impact performance against specific industry standards, frameworks, or regulation. Impact verification enables greater transparency and credibility across the market, allowing investors to better communicate their approach with internal and external audiences.
Why is impact verification important?
Global standards of practice, asset owner requirements, and policy and regulations are converging to amplify the demand for and importance of impact verification.
- Firstly, it enhances credibility, transparency and efficient decision making given that the assessment of impact processes, practices and performance is conducted by objective parties with deep, cross functional expertise in IMM.
- Secondly, the adoption of impact verification is essential for impact investors who seek to differentiate themselves from counterparts and operate at the cutting edge of real impact and continuous learning.
Why should impact verification be conducted by a third party?
Third-party verification provides an objective perspective on the credibility of an investor’s impact practices and performances. Thereby it prevents the occurrence of impact washing, provides assurance and accountability to stakeholders, and aligns impact investing with leading industry standards and practices. The use of a third party also enables an investor to access expertise that may not be available in-house and receive assessment and advice from a verification provider that has highly specialized knowledge and skills in impact measurement and management.
What standards does Moonshot apply in its impact verification work?
Moonshot is fluent in a number of standards important to impact investors, which all foster transparency, accountability and comparability, including:
- The Global Impact Investing Network’s IRIS+
- The Impact Management Project’s Five Dimensions of Impact
- The International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles of Impact Management
- United Nations Development Programme’s SDG Impact Standards:
- United Nations’ Principles of Responsible Investing (UN PRI)
What is the difference between Moonshot Global’s stand-alone verification and full-service verification?
Moonshot’s stand-alone verification services focus on an investor’s impact management practices and/or performance in alignment with industry principles and standards, according to the requirements laid out in each of them while full-service verification comprises an in-depth assessment of an investor’s impact management practices and the performance of the investment activities at the beneficiary level..
How long does an impact verification take?
The duration of an impact verification engagement varies from a few weeks to a few months depending on the scope of the project, the size and complexity of the clients’ impact investing activities and IMM systems.
How frequently should an impact verification be conducted?
Best practice suggests that impact verification reporting and disclosure should be done on an annual basis.
Get in touch with Courtney Roberts, Managing Director, to discuss how impact verification could work for you.
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