Impact investing

Impact investing

It is a means to get financial rewards from your investments while also making a difference. Impact investing is the deliberate process of making investments that, while creating financial returns, contribute to the realisation of certain environmental and social objectives. 

Several factors make impact investing an attractive option for many investors. For one, impact investments can provide a financial return, often on par with traditional investments. Additionally, impact investments can help to address some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. Impact investing can also align one’s values with one’s investment portfolio. 

What is impact investing? 

The term “impact investing” describes financial commitments made towards organisations, companies, and funds to achieve a demonstrable, positive social or environmental effect alongside a financial return. 

Some impact funds invest in causes they think will provide high returns, while others see financial success as a secondary factor. 

The world’s most urgent problems are being addressed by the expanding impact investing sector, which is funding initiatives in fields including microfinance, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, conservation, housing, healthcare, and education. 

Elements of impact investing 

• Intentions 

Impact investing depends on the investor’s desire to use his money to have a favorable social or environmental impact. Impact investors seek to address opportunities and resolve issues. Impact investing stands out from other investment strategies that could include impact concerns mostly because of this. 

• Investments with return outlook  

Impact investments are anticipated to produce financial returns on investment or, at the very least, a capital return. Impact investments can be made in various asset classes, including but not limited to cash equivalents, venture capital, fixed income, and private equity, and aim to provide financial returns that vary from below-market to risk-adjusted market rate. 

• Managing performance impact 

Impact investing has a clear objective and demands that investments are maintained to achieve that goal and assist others in the investing chain in management toward impact; this involves putting feedback cycles in place and sharing performance information. 

• Contributing towards the industry’s growth 

Investors with reputable impact investing practices describe their impact strategy, goals, and results using industry-wide language, norms, and metrics. Additionally, they share lessons learned whenever feasible, so that others can benefit from their knowledge of what promotes social and environmental benefits. 

Why impact investing? 

Impact investing not only provides investable answers to today’s global concerns, but its emergence also significantly impacts how we see investing. This brings us full circle to the purpose of investment, which is to meet the actual requirements of society and the real economy. 

We can encourage systemic transformation in the international financial markets by making impact investment the new standard. The future we want to live in is determined by the investments we make. 

Who is doing impact investing? 

Institutional investors, such as private foundations, hedge funds, pension funds, banks, and other fund managers, make up most of the impact investing market. 

The term “impact investing” was first coined in 2007 by a group of philanthropists and investors looking for a way to invest in companies and organisations with a positive social or environmental impact. In the years since, the impact investing industry has grown tremendously, with billions of dollars being invested each year. 

As funds in this asset class are beginning to create more insightful methods of monitoring their results, impact investing has significantly increased in sophistication. This still relatively specialized investment field is now becoming more widely known and discussed thanks in part to the increased commitment of international investors to frameworks like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

What are impact investing principles? 

Several principles guide impact investing.  

• The first principle is intentionality, meaning that impact investing is purposeful and seeks to achieve specific social or environmental objectives.  

• The second principle is that of additionality, which means that impact investing should seek to generate impact beyond what would have occurred if the investment had not been made.  
• The third principle is that of measurement, meaning that impact investing should seek to measure and report on the investment’s social or environmental impact of the investment.  
• The fourth principle is sustainability, which means that impact investing should seek to create lasting change and not simply provide short-term relief. 

Frequently Asked Questions