Impact Investing in Asia

For those who aren’t familiar with the term, what is impact investing?

Impact investing means investing in funds or organizations with the intention of generating a measurable social or environmental return alongside financial returns. Some of the areas where impact investing is most active include climate change, education, renewable energy and healthcare. The objective is to assemble capital to help lift ambitious projects off the ground that otherwise wouldn’t have attracted big investors.

These are investors who embrace the theory of change identified by the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and similar initiatives. The project selected for funding must have measurable and effective outcomes that reach a critical mass. In short, this is a rigorous scientific approach to investment.

While some investors have been making impact investments for decades, a collaborative global effort has recently emerged to accelerate the development of a high-functioning market for it. In 2009, the funded and became (GIIN), helping to create impact-investing performance metrics supported by 29 impact investors including , the and . Its slogan is simple but powerful: What world are you investing in? GIIN estimates that over 1,340 organizations currently manage US$ 502 billion in impact investing assets worldwide.