Independent Review of an Organisation’s Impact Alignment to Make Better Investment Decisons
Background
The Sustainable Impact Fund (SIF) of ABN AMRO invests in companies and early-stage projects. With a commitment of EUR 425m, funded and managed exclusively by ABN AMRO, it invests through direct equity investments in key transition sectors, contributing to accelerating the transition in the energy, circular and social impact pillars. The investments are split across mature companies with a proven business model and venture investments in young companies with a proven concept.
Additional information on the organization can be found here.
Value for ABN AMRO
The Impact Due Diligence (DD) projects complemented SIF’s commercial DD processes by investigating the potential societal value added of the investees, and helping SIF understand any potential risks of unintended negative impact(s). The results of the Impact DDs were used by SIF as input to the investment decision process in support of its mission to bring a real positive impact on society.
How was impact measurement applied in practice?
Several Impact DDs were conducted on potential investment opportunities in various sectors. Although the scope of the DDs varied, some example activities that were performed included:
- Review of mission, purpose, and Theory of Change (ToC)
- Review of governance, processes, and infrastructure in place at the investee to measure and track the intended impact in line with the ToC
- Perform quantitative impact assessment for a selection of the most material positive impacts and (potential) negative impact risks.
Each DD provided recommendations to improve and strengthen the impact management practices at the investees.
For a detailed description of the steps followed, refer to the Impact Measurement in the Financial Sector document.
