The Impact Measurement and Allocation Program: 2020 to 2026
IMAP was founded in 2020 to develop and disseminate metrics that more accurately communicate the social and environmental impact of business. Over five years, the program seeded 13 research projects, supported 18 affiliated faculty and 21 student researchers across 10 degree programs, produced 9 published papers, and convened more than 30 seminars and 3 workshops bringing researchers and practitioners into direct conversation.
IMAP has concluded as a standalone program. Its research agenda continues at the Ravi K. Mehrotra Institute for Business, Markets & Society as one of four research themes, Measuring and Governing Business Impact.
The publications and materials produced during the program’s five years remain available on this site as a permanent archive.
Capitalism has entered a new era in which the impacts of business and finance are measured by more than simply earnings and shareholder returns. Alongside these traditional financial metrics, sustainability has been increasingly factored in through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance attributes. More than 5,000 asset owners and managers overseeing greater than $89 trillion in assets have signed the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). Additionally, an entirely new group of investment vehicles, known as Impact Funds, has quickly reached over $1 trillion in assets under management.
As this new form of stakeholder capitalism has emerged, measurement systems, standards, and metrics for assessing ESG and sustainability have proliferated. Globally, over 600 ESG ratings and rankings now populate the ESG reporting landscape. However, there is little consistency between these measuring tools, making the use of them less effectual and the results of ESG evaluations difficult to standardize or interpret across companies, sectors, and markets.
IMAP addresses this need for improvement within sustainable investing by collaborating with both financial industry professionals and academic experts to produce actionable research.