A Beginner’s Guide to Impact Investing

Amberjae Freeman - 1 June 2017

Bad news: Global temperature is on the rise.
Good news: So is impact investing.

From air pollution to global warming, our planet is put under more duress with each passing day. Luckily, it’s not all up to the cosmic forces. There are ways we humans can get involved to slow down or even reverse these effects.

One way is by supporting industries and services that are focused on making a positive environmental impact.

This is called Impact Investing.

As defined by the Global Impact Investing Network, impact investing is an investment into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.

Want to Learn More About Impact Investing?

There are many reasons you might want to consider impact investing. We’ve compiled some resources for you to peruse.

1. The GIIN has published a need-to-know guide that explains the core characteristics of impact investments, why you might make them, and how they perform financially.

2. ImpactBase is an online database of impact investment funds and products designed specifically for investors.

3. “From Ideas to Practice, Pilots to Strategy: Practical Solutions and Actionable Insight on How to Do Impact Investing” is an informative report by the World Economic Forum.

4. What Good Is Impact Investing?”shares excerpts from an HBR conversation with the World Economic Forum’s Michael Drexler and Abigail Noble.

This should serve as some light bedtime reading. And there’s more to come!

Topics: Movers and Shakers

Amberjae Freeman

Amberjae Freeman

Amberjae brings more than a decade of experience in public and private sector research to her role at Swell, including a stint at the Royal Bank of Canada, where she specialized in ESG investing. She’s also spent time working in developing countries with cash-strapped NGOs—an experience that led her to believe that financial markets should be used as a vehicle for social and environmental change.

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