“The Global Impact Investing Network is urging investors to do more than seek positive social and environmental impact from their investments by asking them to specifically tackle the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.”
Anecdotally, we’ve been feeling as though investors are increasingly referring to the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for expressing the impact they are trying to achieve with their investment strategies.
Pique’s over-arching expression of impact investing is investing as taking care of the village. Taking care of the village means ensuring that we, our families, neighbours, community, planet, and future generations have access to the essential resources needed to survive, thrive, and be happy. We articulate impact as the improvement in access to essential resources.
- “We, our families, neighbours, community, planet, and future generations” captures the who of impact investing.
- “Taking care of the village” and “survive, thrive, and be happy” are the why.
- “Improvement in access to essential resources” is the what.
Integrated Investing, the methodology that we developed to make investment decisions that take care of the village is the how. Whilst we apply Integrated Investing in Pique’s investment process, we recognized that it’s helpful for investors that we find common language or at least translate into other widely-used terms.
This year, Pique began to reference the UN SDGs and we were explicit about it in our Impact Report that we shared with Pique Fund investors in May. Here is an excerpt from our Impact Report:
- UN SDG #5, Gender Equality, features prominently given our leadership diversity focus. We also pay close attention to the impact the technologies developed by our portfolio companies have on the jobs, the future of work, and economic growth (UN SDG #8) and innovation (UN SDG #9).
- We aim create more equitable societies with our focus on diversity and inclusion, beyond simply gender (UN SDG #10).
- At the portfolio company level, FoodMesh’s mission to reduce food waste reflects UN SDG #12.
What framework or methodology are you using to identify, articulate, and communicate your impact goals?
How do the impact goals of your investment strategy map to the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
Would you use the UN SDGs as your framework for communicating your impact?
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For more impact investing resources and tools, check out Integrated Investing: Impact Investing with Head, Heart, Body, and Soul, available at all major online book retailers.
Download your free 24-page Integrated Investing Toolkit, by signing up to the Pique Ventures newsletter.
