World Bank Group member the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), and a group of leading impact investors announced the launch of the Joint Impact Indicators (JII), a set of high-level, harmonized indicators aimed at helping impact investors to measure and report on their investment activities.

According to the organizations, the indicators will help capture the economic, social, and environmental impacts of investments, allowing investors to improve their effectiveness, transparency, and accountability. By establishing clear and common indicators, the release aims to help promote the fast-growing market for impact investing, which has the potential to channel $26 trillion into investments that have a positive impact, alongside financial returns.

Issa Faye, Director of Sector Economics and Development Impact, IFC, said:

“These indicators are testament to the excellent leadership, technical expertise, and strong collaboration of all partners involved. While we recognize there is much work to be done to fully harmonize impact measurement and reporting, this is an important step forward for the industry.”

JII is aligned with the two impact indicator sets used by most impact investors, the Harmonized Indicators for Private Sector Operations (HIPSO) and the IRIS Catalogue of Metrics. IFC and GIIN stated that the release is a first step toward identifying a core set of indicators that can help define a minimum scope for impact measurement and reporting for all impact investors, with institutions adopting the JII signaling their intent to use the indicators and participate in a broader conversation that builds on the harmonization effort.

Amit Bouri, CEO of the GIIN, said:

“Rigorous, credible impact measurement and management are fundamental to the integrity of the impact investment market. The JII – which complements IRIS+ Core Metric Sets – will increase the understanding of impact performance. Once investors adopt common indicators, the industry can move in the direction of comparability of impact investments, so they can know what will generate the greatest impact. This is crucial, because the challenges the world faces are far too urgent for capital to underperform.”