Date: Thursday, June 4, 2026
Hello! I’m Su Muhereza, and I work with climate finance and impact measurement practitioners. In this blog, I share reflections from my involvement in developing the Climate Impact Investing IMM Playbook, and what I’ve learned about navigating complexity in climate impact evaluation.
In my work in climate finance, I’ve often seen investors, strategists and decision-makers overwhelmed with data vertigo. We have dozens of frameworks, hundreds of metrics, and a mountain of reports, yet I still hear investors asking: Are we actually moving the needle? How can I tell if the investment is having an impact?
In my experience, the lack of a cohesive “how-to” guide can be a roadblock to impact investing. That’s why, with other practitioners from the Climate SMILE (Strategy, Monitoring, Impact, Learning, and Evaluation) Community of Practice and Prime Coalition, we wanted to build something practical. We didn’t want another dense academic paper full of theory and abstract concepts. We wanted a map that would help practitioners navigate easily and quickly.
The result is the Climate Impact Investing IMM Playbook. Developed over 18 months with input from a broad range of practitioners across the field, the Playbook is designed to provide a user-friendly, practical roadmap that supports impact measurement and learning across the entire investment lifecycle.
For a long time, I’ve seen “climate impact” treated as almost synonymous with carbon mitigation and emissions reduction. But in working with other practitioners to develop this Playbook, I came to see how strongly the community wanted to elevate other critical dimensions—particularly social and environmental considerations, and adaptation.
While mitigation metrics are relatively well established, my experience is that, to truly tackle the climate crisis, our evaluation frameworks still need to catch up in three big areas:
A pitfall I see often in IMM (Impact Measurement and Management) is trying to do everything at once. My advice: don’t boil the ocean. The Playbook uses “User Pathways” to help you cut through the noise. Whether you are a fund manager, consultant, measurement specialist, or philanthropic advisor, identify your entry point into the Playbook. It allows searching for resources by stage of the investment cycle, leverage type, sector, and asset class. The Playbook is designed with flexibility so that users can right-size their data collection – if the data isn’t helping you make a better decision, it’s just noise.
This Playbook is a living resource, not a final word. I’m already looking toward the next frontiers—like biodiversity and the circular economy. Our community would love to hear how your team is using these tools to drive impact. Let’s keep the conversation going!
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