International alliance to uncover impact investment in Europe

The much-needed drive to mobilise capital for people and the planet is becoming increasingly mainstream. Sustainable and responsible investment is booming. Still, the notions of ‘impact’ and ‘sustainable’ investment are still blurry or intangible for a lot of people. This joint data collection will help create more transparency around impact investing practices and quantify their transformative impact on society and planet.

“Investing for impact has the power to transform society for the better. With more and better data, we’ll be able to shed more light on key trends and real impact. Data will also show us key gaps and challenges to address if we truly want to scale impact across Europe and achieve real and lasting social change”, said Roberta Bosurgi, EVPA CEO.

“There is a window of opportunity to reach sustainable development goals and net-zero, and impact investing is key to its achievement. Coordinating our efforts to map the size and shape of the impact investing market in Europe will help us understand how this crucial tool can best achieve a future fit for our people and planet”, said Cliff Prior, GSG CEO.

The European impact investment consortium gathers key impact players and builds on two years of discussions on how to harmonise methodologies and data collection strategies. The consortium initiates the first European Impact Investment Survey which aims to collect and aggregate data on impact investment practices, comprehensive of all players, country by country, throughout Europe in a consistent and comparable way.

In the medium term, the methodology aims at creating a blueprint for national market sizing processes that can be replicated in other regions thanks to the National Advisory Boards of the GSG and regional membership associations part of EVPA operating in other regions of the world.

The consortium will present overall findings in autumn 2022; detailed data breakdown and in-depth analysis will be available in time for EVPA Impact Week in Brussels (30 Nov. – 2 Dec. 2022).

For more information, contact:

Dragan Stojanovski, EVPA Head of Marketing and Communications

Email: dstojanovski@evpa.ngo

Notes to editors:

Impact investors wishing to take part in the survey can register here and submit their response.

About EVPA

EVPA, the investing for impact community, is a unique network at the intersection of business and purpose, driven by knowledge and focused on impact. We rally people, capital, knowledge, and data to catalyse, innovate and scale impact. EVPA brings together a diverse group of capital providers (impact funds, corporations, foundations, private equity, banks, public funders) and social innovators of all sorts – from household names to emerging new players. Together we work to increase prosperity and social progress for all, fix inequalities and injustices and preserve the planet.

About GSG

The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) is an independent global steering group promoting sustainable development and advancing education in impact investment. The GSG was established in 2015 as the successor to, and incorporating the work of, the Social Impact Investment Taskforce established under the UK’s presidency of the G8. The GSG’s National Advisory Boards (NABs) currently cover 33 countries. The GSG brings together leaders from finance, business, philanthropy and governments to drive a shift towards impact economies. For more information visit www.gsgii.org and follow the GSG on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Social Impact Agenda per l’Italia

Social Impact Agenda per l’Italia is the GSG’s National Advisory Board for Italy and promotes the development of impact finance in Italy. The network gathers 24 organisations, representing investors, social enterprises, market builders, philanthropic institutions, which work together to establish a new economy that combines economic sustainability with positive social and environmental impact. SIA carries out advocacy, research, communication and market development activities, in order to create a favourable ecosystem for investments with positive impact.

About TIRESIA (Technology Innovation & REsearch for Social ImpAct)

TIRESIA is a research centre based in the School of Management of the Polytechnic University of Milan. Its main research interests and activities include new forms of impact entrepreneurship, social impact measurement, impact finance and inclusive innovation. TIRESIA produces scholarly and practice-oriented research addressing academic, policy and civil society needs.

About Spain NAB

SpainNAB’s mission is to develop the impact investing sector in Spain. It undertakes market research at the national level to develop market knowledge, position itself as a reference, and strengthen relationships, with the ultimate goal of mobilising public and private support for impact investing in Spain.

About Esade Center for Social Impact (ECSI)
ECSI develops research with rigour, reach and relevance for and about social impact. Based at Esade Business School, it works toward a world where people and organisations are better able to understand and solve complex global challenges. As part of its mission, it strives to create the conditions for interactions to understand problems in-depth, ask difficult questions to spur novel thinking and innovative ideas, pilot progressive change, and generate knowledge, tools, solutions, and leaders that enable social change.
 

About FAIR
FAIR was born in 2021 from the merger of Finansol, historic actor of social finance, and Impact Invest Lab (iiLab), innovation lab on impact. Federating social impact finance in France and representing a French expertise centre abroad, FAIR gathers more than 120 social enterprises, banks, asset managers, NGO, schools and committed individuals. FAIR manages a label, the Finansol label, which helps the public distinguish social products from other products. Over 175 such products have been awarded the Finansol label as of today.