Montreal, April 22, 2020 - FinDev Canada today released its first annual Disclosure statement on how it adheres to internationally agreed Operating Principles for Impact Management (The Principles) a global reference point to assess how firms, funds and government-backed institutions track the social and environmental impacts of their investments alongside financial returns.
Today’s statement showed that, as of December 31, 2019, all of FinDev Canada’s assets under management are aligned with the Principles. FinDev Canada said it proud to confirm its adherence to all nine of the international principles, in each case outlining examples of its activities.
The Operating Principles for Impact Management were launched at the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. in April of 2019. More than 90 international investment organizations have since signed on to the over-arching framework for global impact measurement.
“We are proud to be among the founding signatories of The Principles,” said Paul Lamontagne, Managing Director of FinDev Canada. “Our disclosure statement today is, therefore, a milestone in our adherence to those Principles and the first of which we will submit annually to an international secretariat.”
“FinDev Canada was established with the intent to have a favourable impact on poverty reduction through job creation, women’s economic empowerment, and climate change action. We’ve taken a hard look at how we monitor and measure the social and environmental impacts of what happens when we invest in the private sector in developing countries,” added Mr. Lamontagne. “I’m proud to say that we are 100% aligned with the international norms for the management of impact.”
The Principles form a framework for impact investing to ensure investors integrate social and environmental impact considerations throughout their investment lifecycle. Guiding much of the analyses are three fundamental questions that investors must address: what is the intended impact of any investment beyond a financial return, who experiences the impact, and how significant is it?
Since its inception in 2018, FinDev Canada considers impact at every stage of its investment decision-making process to ensure that there is a notable positive impact on any of several social issues or the environment. FinDev Canada’s three over-arching development impact goals are to use development finance to contribute positively to local or national market development, women’s economic empowerment, and/or climate mitigation and adaptation.
In September, 2018, FinDev Canada released its Development Impact Framework that guides its investment decisions and results reporting.
To read FinDev Canada’s first annual statement on its adherence to the Operating Principles for Impact Management, click here.
For more information on how FinDev Canada measures development impact, click here.
About FinDev Canada:
The Development Finance Institute Canada Inc., operating under the FinDev Canada brand, is a Canadian institution dedicated to providing financial services to the private sector in developing countries with the aim of combating poverty through economic growth by focusing on three main themes: economic development through job creation, women economic empowerment, and climate change mitigation. The Development Finance Institute Canada Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Export Development Canada (EDC). Find out more about FinDev Canada here.