European impact investment assets grew by 26 per cent in the last year to €80 billion, but still represent only 0.5 per cent of the mainstream investment market, and it’s not growing quickly enough to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

This is the main finding of a report released by EVPA – the European investing for impact network and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) on the impact investment market in Europe.

More than a quarter of the funding was from individual investors and the top areas covered were decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities and climate action.

‘The continued growth in the European impact investment market is encouraging. But we urgently need greater acceleration to address today’s pressing social and environmental needs’, said Roberta Bosurgi, EVPA CEO. ‘This is a wake-up call to all investors: we need more impact investments that identify, nurture and take big risks for innovative solutions to complex social and environmental challenges – from the climate crisis to sustainable food systems.’

These trends have been driven by favourable regulations and an increased demand from retail investors wanting sustainable and impact opportunities.

‘This coordinated cross-border market size study, targeting investments into unlisted assets, is important for attracting more capital providers and mobilising more capital for impact investment in European countries’, said Cliff Prior, GSG CEO. ‘The open-source transparency and detail in the report provides valuable data to investors and governments and will support future impact growth in the region.’

This report is the result of the first harmonised European impact investment market sizing, a joint effort by EVPA and GSG, as well as several of GSG’s National Advisory Boards and their academic partners. EVPA and GSG claim ‘It will help create more transparency around impact investing trends and practices, and quantify their transformative impact on society and planet’.

Read the full report here.