Impact investing can drive long-term resilience.

In a world where markets feel less predictable, investors are asking how to build portfolios that stay strong for the long term.

We’re starting The Resilience Conversation to explore that question and to examine whether impact investing can help strengthen portfolios today and prepare them for tomorrow’s challenges.

Watch the launch video below

Why we’re starting this conversation 

In 2024, the Impact Investing Institute launched an ambitious initiative to transform how the $98 trillion global investment market approaches impact investing.

At the Impact Investing Institute, we work closely with pension funds, insurers and asset managers who are navigating rapid and structural shifts – from the energy transition to demographic change to the growing need for inclusive growth. 

These forces are reshaping markets. And more investors are exploring whether allocating to impact can support portfolio resilience in the face of long-term change. 

This campaign aims to surface that thinking, share practical insights, and invite the wider market to reflect on what long-term resilience means today.

Our starting point 

Impact investing can drive long-term resilience.

Early signals suggest that: 

1. Credible investors are already investing in impact. 

Pension funds, insurers and other respected investors are investing in impact, signalling growing recognition of its critical role in an investment strategy. 

2. Impact investments align with wider market direction. 

Impact investing responds to major economic, social and environmental shifts – contributing solutions to the energy transition, demographic change and inclusion – positioning investors to get in early on long-term trends. 

3. Impact investing can strengthen portfolios and help manage risk in volatile markets.  

Businesses driven by answering long-term social and environmental needs often respond differently to market swings: impact strategies can answer a range of institutional portfolio needs – such as diversification and risk management. 

These are the ideas we will be exploring through The Resilience Conversation

Join The Resilience Conversation 

Over the coming months, we’ll share perspectives from investors and experts who are redefining what resilience looks like in practice. 

We invite you to follow along – and share what a resilient portfolio means to you. Get in touch today.

Data Spotlight

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Expert interviews

Josh Palmer FIA, Director and Sustainable Investment Specialist at WTW, explains how he approaches risk, return and impact. Josh sees impact investing as a way to deliver market-rate returns, manage risk and strengthen portfolio resilience in volatile markets. He also highlights how these investments can reduce systemic risks and support long-term outcomes.
Oliver MacArthur, CFA, Associate Partner and European Head of Equity Manager Research at Aon explains how pension funds can think more clearly about risk, return and impact. For Oliver, impact investing starts with fiduciary duty and a deep understanding of an institution’s mission, return ambitions and risk tolerance. He points to highly investable themes that align portfolios with the world members want to live in, without sacrificing returns.
We continue our discussion with Josh Palmer FIA, Director and Sustainable Investment Specialist at WTW, exploring some of today’s most compelling impact opportunities and how they can strengthen long-term portfolio resilience. Josh highlights the investable themes his team is seeing, and how these fit within a broader shift towards portfolios designed to manage structural change and systemic risk.

Produced with Asset TV

Helpful guides

The Impact Investing Principles for Pensions provide an accessible, practical insight into the opportunity presented by impact investing and concrete steps pension scheme trustees (and others managing pension schemes) can take to embark upon impact investing.

Our impact investing market report estimates the size and the features of the UK impact investing market in 2024. It is based on a comprehensive investor survey and engagement with over 100 market actors, thought leaders, and policy makers, and updates our inaugural market sizing report, published in 2022.

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