Impact Investing Exceeds Expectations - Report
8 January 2013 at 4:33 pm
A report into the experiences and expectations of impact investors around the world has revealed that the growing market is predicted to commit US$ 9 billion to impact investing this year – up from 8 billion in 2012.
The survey ‘Perspectives on Progress’ was undertaken by J.P. Morgan and the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). They found that the majority of surveyed investors reported that their impact investment portfolio performance is meeting or exceeding social, environmental, and financial expectations.
“We are especially encouraged by the findings in this survey – that, despite the market’s early stage, investors' portfolios are meeting financial expectations in addition to social and environmental expectations,” Director of Research for J.P. Morgan Social Finance and co-author of the report Yasemin Saltuk said.
“The findings from this report are insightful and we are optimistic for the continued growth in investments that have a positive social and environmental impact.”
The survey had 99 respondents, 52% of which were Fund Managers and 56% located in North America. Only 1% of respondents were from Oceania.
50% of the survey respondents primarily focussed on social impact while 45% targeted both social and environmental impact. Most used third-party standards such as the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) metrics.
“Although investors have been making socially and environmentally motivated investments for quite some time, collaboration to develop a coherent and supportive market has increased significantly in the last five years,” Managing Director at the GIIN and co-author of the report Amit Bouri said.
“In the results of this survey, we see positive indication of a market growing in both size and sophistication, which we hope will encourage more activity and attract new investors to the impact investing field.”
Respondents identified the top challenges to the growth of the impact investment industry today as being "lack of appropriate capital across the risk/return spectrum" and "shortage of high quality investment opportunities with track record”.
Perspectives on Progress is the third in a series of reports, started in 2010, that present perceptions of the impact investment market as well as portfolio performance from a sample of impact investors.
