New Industry Group Launched to Facilitate For-Profit Investing that Addresses Social and Environmental Challenges

President Bill Clinton today announced the launch of the Global Impacting Investing Network (GIIN), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting more effective impact investing around the world, at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. Impact investing is the use of for-profit investment to address social and environmental problems. The GIIN will promote the infrastructure, activities, education, and research that enable more effective impact investing, and will ultimately lead to a coherent, well-developed marketplace for the impact investing industry. Two major initiatives begin this work: The GIIN Investors' Council -- a group of leading impact investors representing a diverse range of institutions from around the world. The Investors' Council will provide leadership in the industry, disseminate the latest research and best practices in the field, and support the creation and adoption of industry infrastructure, including impact metrics. The Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) -- initiative to provide a common framework for measuring social and environmental impact of investments. IRIS addresses a major barrier to the growth of the impact investing industry -- the lack of transparency and credibility in how funds define, track, and report on the social and environmental performance of their capital. Full release.