Life Insurance, and Masahiro Kihara, President of Mizuho Financial Group, jointly clarified their support for “impact finance,” calling for private financial institutions to collaborate in addressing social and environmental challenges. 11 For the past decade, SIIF and its partners have also integrated IMM (Impact Measurement and Management) into the lexicon of the impact economy ecosystem. The FSA Impact Investing Guidelines reinforce this commitment and call for philanthropic, impact, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investors to develop a Theory of Change and measure positive and unintended outcomes. 12 This public sector language accelerates adoption by the private sector and the broader field. 13 In addition, SIMI (Social Impact Management Initiative) was created in 2016 to help impact economy partners in measuring social impact through IMM. 14 Partnerships with Value Balancing Alliance (VBA) are also advancing Impact Accounting in Japan around valuation of impact. 15 Similarly, the term sustainability is more widely recognized in Japan because of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is more integrated into Japanese culture. This recognition is in part due to Japan’s government and private sector’s active role in promoting the SDGs. 16 As climate investor and Oxford Impact Investing alumna Tomomi Ishida explains, “The Japanese believe in being citizens of the world. They support United Nations initiatives, and the SDGs offer an opportunity to demonstrate commitment to a global community, just as the international Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) have been embraced.” 17 The SDG icons can be found in various contexts throughout the country from elementary school windows to annual reports for government agencies, corporations, and foundations, and as well as in SIIF marketing materials. 18 One of the most important things about the seventeen SDGs is that they offer unambiguous and ambitious definitions of impact. 19 For instance: Goal 1—End poverty; Goal 2—End hunger; Goal 3—Good health and well-being. While they may not be all inclusive, the SDGs offer an estimated 230 impact indicators that can be measured in numbers (quantitative) and nuance (qualitative). Investors can use the SDGs as a floor for measuring impact and develop more rigorous indicators that are tailored to meet the unique circumstances of an impact investment and the communities served. Impact is Still Hard to Define Even with the well-recognized SDG impact road markers, when asked, “What is impact?” many Japanese investors find it hard to answer. As Chunmei Huang of Impact Capital explains, “We have a large and growing impact ecosystem of investors and an IMM infrastructure in place. Yet answering ‘What is impact?’ is very hard. It is the next chapter of our work—define with clarity what we mean by impact.” 20 167
Ten Years in the Making
Powered by FlippingBook