In May I attended a session in Berlin to do a fireside chat on impact investing. Below a few points that I think are important to address.
I think it is important to first emphasize that sustainability and ROI are not conflicting. On the contrary many of the problems we are facing in the world are tied to ESGs and therefore create opportunities for start-ups.
Sustainability should not be about reporting but rather about the actions taken – not only because it is the right thing to do but also by forcing this ambition and supporting it with legislation it puts pressure on companies which leads to new technology and business opportunities that can create growth and create solutions that can be used in other countries across the globe.
Sustainability is also financial growth and profits otherwise it is not sustainable financially which is where impact and investing comes together.
Interestingly there are some interesting findings in the UK research conducted amongst 65 BA suggesting that there is not a conflict in green investment and in ROI, since those angels who invested solely in green/clean tech gave a higher weighting to economic motivations and lower weightings to altruistic and hedonistic motivations.
Investors are obviously investing for financial ROI but being able to invest for financial investment and at the same time make it a better more sustainable world – that is for me personally how I have gone about investing.
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