Achieving the SDGs by 2030 requires transformative change and significant financial investments. Impact investing (II) is a nascent investment practice with the intention of creating positive social and environmental impact alongside financial return. In 2022, the impact investing industry was valued at $1.164 trillion. The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) positions impact investing as a tool for addressing the world’s most pressing challenges and the field is generally touted as a means to direct much-needed financial resources towards the achievement of the SDGs. This study explores whether and how impact investing contributes to the needed transformations, using qualitative content analysis of the impact reports from a sample of 13 GIIN Investors’ Council members on a framework that combines key principles of social-ecological resilience and transformative investment for equity and justice. The findings from applying the framework suggest that some impact investors are contributing to resilience, particularly by approaching social and environmental issues as long-term and systemic challenges. II actors who primarily use equity-funding and focus their activities in the Minority World appear to be contributing less to resilience and none of the actors meet the principles for transformative investment. However, existing frameworks from SES resilience seem insufficient to fully investigate the complex dynamics of impact-focused financial interventions in social- ecological systems. Despite claiming to address systemic issues, findings also indicate that impact investing takes a superficial, reductionist and instrumentalist approach to what it considers impact and does not radically redirect resource flows to benefit groups identified as vulnerable and marginalized, which has been suggested as necessary to deliver on the SDGs. Furthermore, there is little indication that impact investment addresses and seeks to change the dominant power structures and belief systems that give rise to unsustainable practices, with concerning signs that they may actually be cementing these current systems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-231405 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Sivertsson, Therese |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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