ABSTRACT
The demand for investments that combine financial returns with a desired social or environmental impact is growing. Only recently researchers have been looking into impact investing. It is mostly practitioners that are driving the impact assessment process and its integration into investment and finance. The process is most obvious on the lending side where collaborations between the World Bank Group, International Finance Corporations, other multilaterals and the private banking sector have contributed to the development of relatively consistent environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards which are often referred to as “Global Administrative Law”. Impact investing is also a process by which investment managers screen, evaluate and monitor investments using Environmental and Social Governance. Impact Investors use the following vehicles for activating impact investments. Private equity is one investment approach within impact investing. It employs the traditional private equity model that intends to generate an attractive financial return for fund managers and their investors.
