Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: The Role of Impact Investing

In 2015, the 193 Member States of the United Nations unanimously committed to adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a global agenda to end poverty by 2030. The SDGs comprise 17 core goals that range from ending hunger to stemming climate change. Together, they provide a roadmap to sustainable and just global development.

 

For years, and in some cases decades, impact investors around the world have been demonstrating the full potential of the private sector to drive progress in areas such as affordable housing, access to financial services, and sustainable energy—impact areas that very clearly line up with SDGs. Some investors have already leveraged the SDG goals as a framework for their investments. To better understand how impact investors are approaching the SDGs and how this growing community can collectively drive results, the GIIN profiled a variety of impact investors in a report published in 2016.