Impact investing remains strong, amidst industries lagging on net zero and nature commitments
Ready to catch up on sustainability news? Fall 2025 has thus far been a season of scrutiny, revealing a common pattern across finance, shipping, and corporate sustainability: commitments to net-zero and nature-positive goals are increasing, but real-world progress is lagging behind. Banks disclose more, but dilute their commitments. Global shipping stalls on net-zero rules, and Nordic firms outperform their peers while still worsening their impacts on nature. This contrasts with another major news: impact investing remains resilient, with a 21% CAGR between 2019 and 2025.
Photograph: Aaron Burden/Unplash
■ Banking sector’s transition to net-zero: some are better performers, but all are lagging
The Transition Pathway Initiative recently assessed 36 major banks worldwide on their progress toward net zero by 2050. The study evaluated each bank’s management practices, commitments, and policies across ten key areas. Access the report here.
Overall, banks have made modest year-on-year improvements. Compared with last year’s results, more banks are now measuring and disclosing their sector exposure and financed emissions — a critical step for setting credible 2030 decarbonization targets. Most have established such targets for seven of fifteen high-emission sectors, with the greatest focus on electricity and oil & gas. However, many of these goals remain short-term.Unfortunately, progress has reversed in other areas. Some banks have scaled back or weakened their net-zero commitments, while others have relaxed sectoral policies to fund companies that were previously excluded, often without clearly explaining the rationale for these exceptions.
Australia, Europe, and Japan performed better than other regions, with China, India, and the US scoring the lowest. Despite these variations, the majority of banks met less than 30% of the assessment criteria. Although a handful of institutions are moving in the right direction, the banking sector as a whole remains far from aligned with a credible path to net-zero emissions by 2050.
■ Despite market slowdowns, impact assets remain resilient with a 21% CAGR 2019-2025
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) has released its flagship State of the Market report, surveying 429 respondents—most of them investment managers. One thing is clear: impact investing is advancing, with impact AUM having increased at a CAGR of 21% over the past six years. $49.8 billion USD was invested in 2024.
The report reaffirms that impact investing does not mean accepting lower returns. Investors reported higher returns on impact assets than on non-impact assets across every asset class, with 89% of impact AUM targeting market-rate returns.
The data also signal a shift in the investor landscape. Established financial institutions are increasingly entering the impact investing space. In 2025, large organizations—often dual-mandate investors—accounted for most impact AUM. The largest source of capital came from pension funds (35%), followed by banks (14%) and insurance companies (12%). This being said, many continued to receive significant support from family offices and high-net-worth individuals.
Many more insights can be accessed in the report.■ The International Maritime Organization fails to reach consensus on Net Zero Plans
In a surprising turn, the International Maritime Organization’s “Net Zero Framework” for shipping was postponed in October, after members voted to delay adoption rather than approve the package. The framework, which would have established fuel intensity reduction targets and a pricing and reward mechanism via its “Net Zero Fund”, was designed to push the industry towards net zero by 2050.The vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed, as 57 countries supported the package, while 49 countries opposed it. Key concerns raised by the countries that opposed the framework included economic burden on developing countries, overlap with regional schemes such as the EU ETS, and fear among oil-exporting nations regarding the implications for fossil fuels.
The postponement creates significant uncertainty for the shipping industry, pushing any possible entry into force to March 2028 at the earliest and complicating investments in low-emission technology. The Norwegian Shipowners Association called the delay “a very serious setback” and has urged IMO members to use the extra year to build consensus and deliver a predictable global framework.
■ Large Nordic companies have a lower impact on nature than global peers, but are still moving in the wrong direction
The Integrating Nature Data Into Investment Decisions report, a collaboration between GIST and Storebrand Asset Management, analysed how businesses depend on and impact natural systems. The analysis found that the 100 largest Nordic companies have, on average, a 42% lower impact on nature than a global benchmark of major corporations. Companies were assessed across several factors, including water stress, forest loss, biodiversity intactness, protected areas, and Indigenous lands.
A handful of sectors account for most of this damage: manufacturing, food production, automotive, textiles, and freight transport. For instance, manufacturing alone accounts for over 70% of the sample’s biodiversity footprint, with some assets being located in drought-prone or water-stressed areas, and/or near protected areas.
“When nature is lost, ecosystems are degraded, supply chains are disrupted, productivity falls, and asset values erode.” Highlighting the need to reverse the curve, the report ends on a call to action: at the back of this data, identify priority sectors, companies, pressures and locations for further analysis, to inform investment and engagement strategies.
