According to figures shared by Dr Gifford, global sustainable investing has grown by more than 100 percent to become a trillion-dollar market between 2014 and 2019. Within that same period, the market for global impact investing specifically grew even faster—by over 1,000 percent—and is said to be valued at about US$715 billion.

At the same time, both sustainable and impact investments have shown good performance as compared to the broader market. "The history of sustainable investments in liquid markets is solid, there's no evidence of underperformance," said Dr Gifford. "Of course, we can never say that sustainable investments will outperform the broader market in the future, but what we can say in confidence is that they have not underperformed in the past. So you can most definitely have a strong portfolio of sustainable investments."

See also: In A Country Where Environmental Activism Can Cost You Your Life, One Campaigner Is Using The Power Of Storytelling To Effect Change

As of 2019, more than US$3 trillion reportedly go into sustainable investments every year, which should be more than enough to tackle the US$2.5 trillion financing gap that is said to be standing in the way of us achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries. So why hasn't this helped us eradicate all the world's problems?

"Not all sustainable investments are impactful," explained Dr Gifford. "If all you're doing is to buy Unilever shares, for instance, this isn't really making a difference to a country's poverty or education levels. You're simply buying shares from somebody else in the stock market; you're simply swapping ownership of the shares in a liquid market. And even if you choose not to invest in 'bad' guys like tobacco companies, it isn't enough to create a direct positive impact on the issues that need to be tackled."

"On the other hand, if you buy shares in a company during its Series B funding round, for example, you will have a more direct positive impact on the issue because your money is going to directly fund the company's growth. In other words, if you want to make an impact [with your investments], you need to go into private markets or private companies, or look for shareholder engagement and activism", which will allow shareholders to exercise their rights as investors to influence corporate decision-making.

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