Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island – Photo by TJ Watt
Mobilizing finance for positive impact
We bring people together to learn, connect & collaborate to align finance and investments with climate and sustainability action
About us
The Impact Investing Hub is a research and education hub at the intersection of climate action and impact investing. Our mission is to build capacity, create thought leadership, and share insights and useful data to align finance and investments with the net zero transition and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Hub offers a platform for collaboration between academia, industry, community, financial actors, and policymakers to accelerate the transition to a climate-positive and inclusive economy. Together, we remove knowledge barriers and co-create innovative finance solutions to address the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and rising inequalities while building resilience in the financial system and the economy.
Our focus areas
Climate Finance
We explore the challenges and opportunities shaping investments in clean technologies, renewable energy, ocean innovation, and nature-based solutions. Our research supports the design of financing strategies that advance net-zero goals and climate-positive growth.
Transition Finance
We work to accelerate community-led energy transitions and build financial capacity among SMEs and startups. Our focus is on unlocking ESG-aligned and impact-driven capital to foster innovation, economic competitiveness, and long-term resilience.
Inclusive Finance
We research and document systemic barriers to capital access faced by women, racialized communities, and Indigenous entrepreneurs. Through collaboration, we co-create innovative financial innovative financial solutions that foster inclusion, opportunity, and shared prosperity.
What we do
The Impact Investing Hub follows an integrated solutions-focused approach to achieve its mission. Our activities and initiatives are designed to advance the following three pillars which address some of the key challenges holding back impact investing and sustainable finance: knowledge and skills gaps, lack of collaboration and information and data gaps.
Education & capacity building
Support students experiential learning to address talent gaps in impact investing and sustainable finance; develop training programs and toolkits to help SMEs and investors build capacity in ESG/SDG Impact; facilitate knowledge dissemination through public events and community outreach.
Research & engagement
Collaborate on research and co-develop innovative finance solutions leveraging multi-disciplinary expertise and industry experiences; facilitate Design Labs convening diverse stakeholders to reduce barriers to capital mobilization toward climate and sustainability goals.
Data, resources & toolkits
Develop and share useful datasets, practical toolkits and other curated resources to support learning and empower students, businesses, investors, and community members to become climate and sustainability leaders.
Our impact
We strive to create positive impacts across all our activities for students, researchers, industry and community partners in British Columbia, Canada, and beyond.
203
Students involved in collaborative projects on impact investing
37
Community engagements & industry collaborations
21
Funded internships for students to build skills in ESG-impact finance
71
Design lab participants from industry, academia & government
Featured events
This webinar, hosted in collboration with Impact United Academy, and featuring Prof. Basma Majerbi, Graham Day (Spring) Capital and Richard Muller (SVX), shares insights on the motivations, priorities, and decision-making behaviors of impact investors in Canada, based on Gustavson student-led interviews and field experiements with real investment decisions by angel impact investors. Report available here.
