Impact investments: a call for (re)orientation

Timo Busch (), Peter Bruce-Clark, Jeroen Derwall, Robert Eccles, Tessa Hebb, Andreas Hoepner, Christian Klein, Philipp Krueger, Falko Paetzold, Bert Scholtens and Olaf Weber
Additional contact information
Timo Busch: University of Hamburg
Peter Bruce-Clark: Social Impact Capital
Jeroen Derwall: Maastricht University
Robert Eccles: University of Oxford
Tessa Hebb: Carleton University
Andreas Hoepner: University College Dublin
Christian Klein: University of Kassel
Falko Paetzold: University of Zurich
Olaf Weber: University of Waterloo

SN Business & Economics, 2021, vol. 1, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Practitioners and academics have been using different terms to describe investments in the sustainability context. The latest inflationary term is impact investments—investments that focus on real-world changes in terms of solving social challenges and/or mitigating ecological degradation. At the core of this definition is an emphasis on transformational changes. However, the term impact investment is often used interchangeably for any investment that incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects. In the latter instance, achieving transformational change is not the main purpose of such investments, which therefore carries the risk of impact washing (akin to “green washing”). To offer (re-)orientation from an academic perspective, we derive a new typology of sustainable investments. This typology delivers a precise definition of what impact investments are and what they should cover. As one central contribution, we propose distinguishing between impact-aligned investments and impact-generating investments. Based on these insights, we hope to lay the foundation for future research and debates in the field of impact investing by practitioners, policymakers, and academics alike.

Keywords: Financial markets; Sustainable investments; Impact generation; ESG aspects; Impact investing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43546-020-00033-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:snbeco:v:1:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s43546-020-00033-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/43546

DOI: 10.1007/s43546-020-00033-6

Access Statistics for this article

SN Business & Economics is currently edited by Gino D'Oca

More articles in SN Business & Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().