Investing for Sustainability Impact (IFSI) refers to an investing strategy where an investor emphasizes positive behavior changes among companies, corporations, or policymakers with the goal of benefitting broader social or environmental aims. This could include influencing these entities to reduce or eliminate behavior that results in negative sustainability outcomes or increase positive outcomes.
However, it has become increasingly apparent that this goal must coexist with the broader goal of sustaining, and perhaps improving, the quality of the social and natural ecosystems that are essential to achieving it. The issue is that these ecosystems, which are necessary for the continuing welfare of humanity, are deemed to be under threat, in large part from the economic activity that is the basis for some of the investments
In short, IFSI captures any approach whereby investors leverage their influence to provide solutions to sustaining these ecosystems even if they aren’t they legally bound to so.