NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Cornerstone Capital Group (“Cornerstone”), an SEC-registered investment advisor helping investors simultaneously achieve their financial and societal objectives without sacrificing investment performance, today announced the launch of The Cornerstone Access Impact Framework^TM. The Framework represents a new approach to investing in alignment with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”).

The Cornerstone Access Impact Framework™ uses a proprietary methodology to measure and report on how investments facilitate access to the systems and resources required to achieve the SDGs. The notion of access represents the single common denominator to moving capital to achieve the SDGs. The Access Impact Framework offers an integrated impact reporting solution for both existing client portfolios and the construction of new SDG-aligned portfolios.

“Measurement is a critical aspect of impact investing and yet, historically, investors have struggled to understand the societal implications of their investments,” said Erika Karp, Founder and CEO of Cornerstone. “We created the Access Impact Framework to provide clients with a way to understand how their investments align with the issues that matter most to them. It provides a tool to help catalyze the flow of capital to address the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges as embodied by the SDGs.”

The Access Impact Framework™, the development of which was led by Katherine Pease, Managing Director, Head of Impact Strategy, and Craig Metrick, Managing Director, Institutional Consulting and Research, is rooted in a quantitative analysis of company-level ESG data and a proprietary assessment of industry-level relevancy to 11 access themes, developed by Cornerstone, which serve to translate the SDGs into investable opportunities. This bottom-up analysis is paired with a narrative and analysis of each fund manager/strategy highlighting the alignment of their own organization’s policies and investment activities related to these access themes.

“The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals were designed as a global consensus on the essential needs facing societies and the planet, and the SDGs provide a blueprint to governments and NGOs seeking to deploy resources to address those needs,” said Pease. “The role of private investment, however, was not clearly captured in the process of outlining these goals and it has become increasingly clear that full participation from the private sector is required. The Access Impact Framework measures impact in a way that aligns better with corporate behavior, enabling investors to play a critical role in advancing and achieving the SDGs.”