3. Impact Investment Sector Assessment

This section attempts to evaluate the current state of the impact investment sector. Section 3.1 assesses the growth estimates for the sector and compares these to the rates of growth that sustainable investing displayed over the last 20 years. Section 3.2 describes participants that are active in the impact investment ecosystem. Section 3.3 provides two examples of institutional investors that are incorporating an impact investing approach into their portfolio management practices, and Section 3.4 describes how impact investments are made across the various asset classes. Section 3.5 attempts to gauge the sentiment of mainstream asset owners towards impact investing and presents responses to a survey conducted by Deloitte of one key type of mainstream asset owner: US-based pension funds. In summary, while the impact investment sector is still early stage and will need to grow aggressively in order to meet growth rate expectations, leading mainstream investors have begun to allocate capital to investments creating social and environmental value. More importantly, these investors expect to increase their allocation of capital to impact investments in future years.