Over the last two years, interest in sustainable investing has grown. The idea continues to draw strong support, and familiarity with it only appears to be spreading, Morgan Stanley says. Investors largely believe that their portfolios can have substantive social and environmental impact. Sustainable, responsible and impact investing rose 33% between 2014-2016 to $8.72 trillion and, as long as the need for such impact remains, it is likely that investor interest will keep rising.
Can investments in sustainably driven companies actually be profitable, though? "There's a natural inclination to think impact investing is too good to be true," Amit Bouri, cofounder and chief executive officer of the Global Impact Investing Network, told Business Insider. While investors have a hard time believing they can invest in a sustainable way and still make money, research shows that "risk adjusted rates of return are achievable. We compared sustainable funds to convention funds and the opportunities are in line with the norm," Bouri said.