NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Can Impact Investing in emerging markets successfully facilitate capital towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals?

Although the Sustainable Development Goals represent agreed common aspirations, the United Nations estimates that reaching the SDGs in emerging markets will cost approximately $3.9 trillion per year and that private and public sources provide just $1.4 trillion per year. As a result, asset managers, financial institutions, governments, foundations, and aid agencies are increasingly placing emphasis on new products and methods of capital allocation to achieve social, environmental and financial objectives.

Impact Investing, despite often convoluted and opaque methodologies, has risen to the forefront of the dialogue as a potential ‘silver bullet’ – promises of financial returns above investor hurdle rates while simultaneously achieving social outcomes have proven to be an enticing combination. Impact Investing now represents a subset of every major asset class including private equity, private debt, public equities, ETFs, fixed income and real estate. As toolkits, exit strategies and investor sophistication continue to evolve in emerging markets, and entrepreneurs continue to tackle ‘wicked problems’ that are of increasing urgency, Impact Investing now seeks to align with the sustainable development agenda on a global scale.