Good Returns Amidst Market Volatility: SVX Releases First-Ever Canadian Impact Investing Market Performance Report

Canada’s $15 billion+ impact product market demonstrates solid financial and impact performance 

TORONTO, ONTARIO - April 24, 2025 – Today, SVX released the first-ever Canadian Impact Investing Market Performance Report, offering the most comprehensive analysis to date of the country’s growing impact investing sector including its scale and its financial and impact performance. The findings signal a market that has significantly matured with an accelerating growth trajectory that is delivering strong, balanced, and risk-adjusted financial returns while driving measurable positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.  

This benchmark report demonstrates the growing scale, scope and positive performance of impact investing in Canada, dispelling myths about this approach to investing.  Drawing on data from over 260 products representing over $15 billion CAD in assets under management (AUM), the report highlights the diversity of offerings across debt and equity instruments ranging from $2 million to over $100 million. Products demonstrated positive, balanced, diversified performance in line with their respective asset class returns. Roughly two thirds of all products deliver at-market or above-market returns, with a significant share of offerings in low-risk fixed income vehicles. Further, these investments are having demonstrable impact in terms of energy, real estate and community infrastructure, and agriculture in Canada and around the world.  

The analysis is grounded in proprietary data backed by the SVX Impact Index, a national database featuring over 200 investment offerings available to Canadian investors, combined with specialized survey data and performance data from investors and administrators including Tapestry Community Capital. The research was further strengthened through collaboration with academic institutions including the University of Victoria and University of Toronto, and industry partners, who contributed to data acquisition, validation, and analysis. 

The ultimate goal of the report is to establish consistent benchmarking to support greater adoption, enhance sector transparency, improve decision-making, provide actionable insights, and provide a data resource for investors, fund managers, policymakers, and ecosystem builders.  

SVX will be hosting an open webinar to discuss the findings on Thursday, May 8th at 12 pm EDT. 

“This landmark report fills a critical gap in Canada’s investment landscape by providing the first robust, data-driven analysis of impact investing performance. It affirms that aligning capital with purpose is not only possible, but profitable. I’m proud to have collaborated with SVX on this important work, which brings academic rigour and real-world insight to a field that is fast becoming foundational to the future of finance in Canada.” - Dr. Basma Majerbi, Associate Professor, Gustavson School of Business; Founding Director, Impact Investing Hub, University of Victoria. 

“The biggest question amongst those who are curious or critical about impact investing has been: what is the performance of these products? This first-of-its-kind market benchmarking provides proof that impact investing is a viable strategy for investors from individuals to institutions seeking good returns with positive impact and financial performance. During a period of volatility, we believe more investors will be seeking a balanced investment strategy generating positive local and global impact and solid financial returns.” - Adam Spence, CEO, SVX 

“This is a timely report that supports the view that Canada has a burgeoning $15Bn impact investing market, as highlighted in the 2024 Canadian Impact Investing Working Group report. What is most exciting in the SVX report are the additional insights shared about the investment intermediaries who underpin the market and the suggestion of a positive relationship between financial performance and outcomes across Canadian communities.”  - Edmund Piro, Chief Investment Officer, The J.W. McConnell Foundation 

“This report dispels the myth that impact comes at the expense of returns—showing that the majority of responsible investments deliver market-rate or better performance. Toronto Foundation hopes additional institutional investors and foundations will use more of their capital to serve community and accelerate meaningful change for all.”  - Sharon Avery, President & CEO, Toronto Foundation 

“I am really excited about the launch of SVX’s inaugural Canadian Impact Investing Market Performance Report.  The report brings together the vision, effort, and valuable insights from the SVX’s team to capture the true landscape and state of impact investing in Canada, leveraging their unmatched experience, expertise, and extensive network in the Canadian impact investing space.  The report illuminates the Canadian impact investing stage, highlights its key trends and opportunities, and helps build investors’ confidence while inspires us to focus on areas that are underserved and sectors with untapped potential.  The report will set an important baseline for the Canadian impact investing sector to continue its growth from here.“ - Stephanie Tsui, Chief Sustainability Officer, Portfolio Manager, Genus Capital Management 

“The performance report represents a milestone for impact investing in Canada, demonstrating the aligning capital and impact investing is now a cornerstone of our financial landscape. It points to a future where investors drive meaningful change and strong returns hand in hand, unlocking sustainable growth for communities and investors alike.” - Mark Stacey, Senior Director of Investments, Private Wealth, Highstreet Asset Management 

WHAT’S NEXT? 

As part of SVX’s commitment to advance transparency, accountability, and accessibility in Canada’s impact investing ecosystem, the organization and its research partners will continue to build on this foundational report through a series of initiatives aimed at deepening market understanding and accelerating impact: 

• Annual Updates: Regular updates to the Market Performance Report will go beyond a snapshot and track new data, trends, and product performance to provide ongoing insight into Canada’s evolving impact investing landscape. This consistent benchmarking will support better decision-making, serving as an evolving data resource for investors, fund managers, policymakers, and ecosystem builders. 

• Expanded Product Coverage: Future reports will include a broader range of products including managed products (eg. mutual funds, ETFs, pooled funds, etc.), fixed income instruments (eg. green bonds, social impact bonds, sustainability linked bonds), and deposit-based products (eg. credit union term deposits). 

• Investor Research: SVX will continue to collaborate with its academic partners to reactivate investor surveys and interviews to build a robust and recurring profile of Canada’s impact investing community to map out investor activity, preferences,  expectations, and capital flows across the country – contributing to a more complete picture of market activity and potential. 

• Emerging Themes:  SVX will spotlight new and underrepresented thematic areas, including increased focus community investment vehicles and affordable housing, small business financing, and clean energy at both local and regional levels. The last two thematics will leverage research expertise from our academic partners, including the University of Victoria through their Accelerating Community Energy Transformation (ACET) initiative.  

• Geographic Expansion: SVX will seek to obtain broader regional representation of products across Canada — especially in Québec, the Prairies, Atlantic Canada, and the Northern Territories — as well as deeper coverage of impact products across the Americas. 

QUICK FACTS 

• $15.08 Billion – Canada’s impact investing sector represents CAD $15 billion in assets, largely concentrated in private markets. True market size is likely much larger, with efforts to capture a fuller picture to include credit unions, bonds, and balanced funds 

• 264 Impact Investment Offerings Total Launched – The number of impact investment products has grown substantially, with 30 products launched in 2016 and 66 in 2024. Since 2000, a total of 264 products have been introduced, including investments that provide capital to enterprises across the Americas 

• 64% of Impact Investments Outperform or Match Market Returns – Share of impact investments delivering returns at or above market rate, demonstrating strong financial performance across asset classes 

• 11.3% CAGR – Compound annual growth rate of new impact products (2020–2024) 

• Top Sectors: Climate and Energy, Real Estate & Infrastructure, Agriculture remain dominant focus areas 

• Most-Used Impact Reference: UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), widely used as a structuring tool for impact reporting 

• Fragmentation In Measurement: The majority of product managers use internally developed Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) frameworks. Many also rely on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to structure their data, though the SDGs function more as an organizational tool rather than a comprehensive IMM framework 

• Benchmarking Challenges: The majority of indicators focus on carbon emissions, land use, employment, income, and capital deployment. However, comparing these indicators across organizations remains challenging without the adoption of common standards and a unified taxonomy. 

LEARN MORE: 

• Read the full report: https://svx.ca/impact-investing-market-report/  

• Explore our expert commentary that highlights key report findings: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadas-impact-investing-market-achieving-positive-financial-vekye/?trackingId=tWYTRykbJtAWqfijCJ8c0Q%3D%3D

• Browse the SVX Impact Index: https://svx.ca/svx-impact-index/  

• You can read a full primer about the Impact Index: https://medium.com/@thesvx/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-svx-impact-index-65a025525f34 

• Join us for a webinar to discuss the findings on Thursday, May 8 at 12 pm EDT: https://lu.ma/ayn9gfhd 

Media Contacts 

Gabriella Yapp, Senior Communications Associate | SVX Email: gabriella.yapp@svx.ca 

Helen Zhou, Manager, Education & Technology | SVX Email: helen.zhou@svx.ca 

Adam Spence, Chief Executive Officer | SVX Email: adam.spence@svx.ca 

About SVX Canada 

SVX’s mission is to advance social, environmental, and economic justice through impact investing. As a nonprofit, diversified financial services firm, we work with investors, funds, enterprises, and institutions to help them take the first or next step on their impact journey. We provide knowledge products and programs, design strategies and products, manage funds, operate an impact investing platform, and develop systems change solutions. 

We work across key impact sectors: climate, food, equity, housing, and community real estate. SVX is regulated by the Ontario Securities Commission and operates as an Exempt Market Dealer (EMD) across several Canadian provinces. Our reach extends across Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia. 

For more information, please visit www.svx.ca. 

Full Disclaimer 

SVX is registered as an Exempt Market Dealer (EMD) under applicable securities legislation in Ontario, Québec, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan; however, no securities regulatory authority has approved or expressed an opinion about the securities offered on the platform. 

The opportunities included in the database are for informational purposes only. They are not intended as investment advice or an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. 

Investing in the exempt market has significant risks. We encourage investors to consult with financial professionals before making investment decisions. The Impact Index and Impact Index+ are not a replacement for due diligence but rather serve to streamline and inform the evaluation process for investors and issuers.