Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island – Photo by TJ Watt
Mobilizing finance for positive impact
We bring people together to learn, connect & collaborate
to align finance and investments with climate and sustainability action
About us
The Impact Investing Hub (formerly VI3Hub) is a research and education hub at the intersection of climate action and impact investing. Our mission is to build strategic capacity, create thought leadership, and share insights and useful data to align finance and investments with the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Hub offers a platform for collaboration between academia, industry, community, financial actors, and policymakers to accelerate the transition to a climate-positive and inclusive economy. Together, we remove knowledge barriers and co-create innovative finance solutions to address the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and rising inequalities while building resilience in the financial system and the economy.
Our focus areas
Climate & nature finance
We study risks and opportunities related to investments in climate solutions including cleantech, clean energy, nature-based solutions, ocean tech, and biodiversity finance.
Transition finance
We focus on accelerating community energy transitions, climate adaptation and resilience, and capacity building for SMEs and start-ups to attract ESG and impact-driven capital.
Inclusive finance
We collaborate with partners to co-develop innovative solutions addressing inequalities in access to finance for women, racial minority, and Indigenous entrepreneurs.
What we do
The Impact Investing Hub follows an integrated solutions-focused approach to achieve its mission. Our activities and initiatives are designed to advance the following three pillars which address some of the key challenges holding back impact investing and sustainable finance: knowledge and skills gaps, lack of collaboration and information and data gaps.
Education & capacity building
Support students experiential learning to address talent gaps in impact investing and sustainable finance; develop training programs and toolkits to help SMEs and investors build capacity in ESG/SDG Impact; facilitate knowledge dissemination through public events and community outreach.
Research & engagement
Collaborate on research and co-develop innovative finance solutions leveraging multi-disciplinary expertise and industry experiences; facilitate Design Labs convening diverse stakeholders to reduce barriers to capital mobilization toward climate and sustainability goals.
Data, resources & toolkits
Develop and share useful datasets, practical toolkits and other curated resources to support learning and empower students, businesses, investors, and community members to become climate and sustainability leaders.
Our impact
We strive to create positive impacts across all our activities for students, researchers, industry and community partners in British Columbia, Canada, and beyond.
176
Students involved in collaborative projects on impact investing
27
Community engagements & industry research collaborations
18
Funded internships for students to build skills in ESG-impact finance
71
Design lab participants from industry, academia & government
Featured events
Speakers: Jill Earthy, InBC, CEO – Basma Majerbi, Gustavson School of Business, UVic – Kristi Rivait, Thrive Impact, Co-Founder – Michael Meehan, UK SIF, Chairman – Danica Straith (Moderator), RRU, Director, Community Learning Partnerships
