The Systemic Impact Investing Standard is an independently audited framework designed to assess whether asset managers’ investment strategies align with delivering systemic impact. It supports asset owners in differentiating credible impact approaches and improves decision-making across sourcing, management and measurement. It is relevant to finance professionals seeking robust, verifiable impact assessment tools.
Organisation behind the resource
The standard is developed by Agora Global in partnership with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town. It reflects collaboration between practitioners and researchers working on systemic investing and impact measurement.
What the resource does
- Provides an independently audited standard to assess alignment with systemic impact.
- Evaluates asset managers’ practices across investment sourcing, management and measurement.
- Enables differentiation between funds based on the credibility of their impact approach.
- Offers a structured framework for assessing how investments influence broader economic and social systems, not only individual firms.
- Supports verification processes to ensure claims of impact are robust and evidence-based.
Target audience
The primary audience is asset owners, including institutional investors and allocators, who need to assess impact strategies. Secondary users include asset managers, impact investment professionals, consultants, and researchers focused on sustainable and impact finance.
Relevance to finance professionals
- Risk assessment – Helps identify whether investments address systemic risks within markets and broader economic systems.
- ESG analysis – Provides a structured lens to evaluate real-world social and environmental outcomes beyond firm-level metrics.
- Investment context – Supports understanding of how capital allocation influences market systems and long-term development outcomes.
- Risk, return and impact – Enables assessment of whether investment processes generate additional, measurable impact alongside financial returns.
- Governance and strategy – Assists in evaluating the credibility and integrity of asset managers’ impact strategies and operational practices.
