YouGov Impact Investing survey The majority of Germans want to make a positive impact on the environment and society with their investment

This was the result of a representative survey of 2,070 Germans conducted by the market and opinion research institute YouGov at the end of March 2022 on behalf of Commerz Real. When asked which objectives are particularly important in impact investing, 45% of respondents argued in favour of environmental sustainability or combating climate change, 38% focused on fighting poverty and 35% on healthcare and treatment research. Education for all was identified as an important target by 31%, and 23% focused on sustainable cities and municipalities.

The high level of interest is also reflected in the question of what the most important factors for sustainable investment are. For example, for 29% of respondents, an attractive return with a positive environmental impact at the same time is an important criterion, while 16% consider an attractive return and social impact to be important. Almost half of all those surveyed want to have both attractive returns and influence environmental and social topics. For only 21%, returns alone count.

However, Commerz Real continues to see a great need for raising awareness on sustainable investments in general and impact investing in particular. For example, only 31% of survey respondents knew that products that combine returns with environmental and social sustainability existed. This is significantly less than in a similar survey conducted by Commerz Real in spring 2020, when almost one in two stated that they did not know what a sustainable investment was.

“It is therefore important to continue the awareness-raising work,” says Huzarski. According to Commerz Real, it is therefore not surprising that according to the survey, only 13% of German citizens are currently invested in investments that are environmentally or socially sustainable. “Here we expect visible growth in the coming years due to the demand potential,” Huzarski says with conviction.