CAROLINE VU

chief impact officer at Impact Investment Group, Australia’s first funds management certified as a B Corporation (which recognises corporations that use the power of business for social and environmental good)

Impact investments are investments that are made with the intention of generating financial return alongside social and/or environmental impact. There are two key parts: the duality of return (making money but also making a positive social and environmental impact) and the intention. It’s the next step in the evolution of ethical or socially responsible investment (a practice that developed around three decades ago by screening out things like tobacco and weapons), which is not just about pinpointing things you don’t want your money invested in, but also thinking about what world we want to create, what world we want our children to inherit, and proactively seeking to create that through our investments. The first step is to do a health check on where your money is actually invested – where is your superannuation? For most people in Australia, the biggest single investment they have is probably their super. None of us see it as particularly exciting, that is, until you frame it in terms of what that big pool of money is actually contributing to, or detracting from, in this world. Future Super, a super fund and one of our investors, is Australia’s ]

“We must think about what world we want to create”

first super fund to be 100 per cent fossil-fuel free. Other examples of like-minded super funds include Australian Ethical and Local Government Super. When you start thinking about what your money is actually doing there are some fairly straight-forward and easy things to do to start transitioning your money. Everybody has a vision of the world they want to see and work towards. The empowering thing is: you can do good and you can do well.