BlueOrchard Finance has become among the first signatories to the Operating Principles for Impact Management, a market standard for impact investing initiated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

As part of a consortium of global public and private organisations involved in the development of the Principles, BlueOrchard has significantly contributed to their conceptualisation. 

The Principles provide a clear and common market standard for what constitutes an impact investment, addressing concerns about “impact-washing.” 

They will bring greater transparency, credibility, and discipline to the impact investing market.

Patrick Scheurle, CEO of BlueOrchard, said: “It is very encouraging to see the growing commitment to impact investing from both investors and the investment management industry in general. More and more investors rightly expect impact measurements which can be compared industry-wide in the same way as mainstream financial measurements.” 

“A comparable, common set of impact measurements will help additional investors to enter the space and make a social and environmental impact. Building on our nearly 20-years of impact investing track-record, we will continue to share our expertise and lead the way in developing and implementing best-practices in impact management.”

“In order to achieve its true potential and fully contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, it is necessary for the impact investing industry to reach scale. An essential component of this process is the improvement, professionalisation and standardisation of the industry’s impact management processes as this demonstrates the effectiveness and relevance of impact investing in achieving the SDGs,” said Peter A. Fanconi, BlueOrchard’s Chairman of the Board.

Since its inception nearly 20 years ago, BlueOrchard has been contributing to the development of a global and common set of tools and best practices for impact management. 

“We are proud to be one of the few impact investors with a proprietary impact management tool, which we have constantly improved and aligned to industry standards. We are convinced that the IFC principles will become a benchmark standard and therefore have proactively contributed to their development. Furthermore, we are among the first who have already aligned their impact management practices to the Principles, portrayed in our recently published BlueOrchard Impact Report,” said Maria Teresa Zappia, Chief Investment Officer of BlueOrchard.

The Principles are intended to be a reference point for investors for the design and implementation of their impact management systems. 

They may be implemented through different types of systems, which are designed to be fit for purpose for different types of institutions and funds.