This year’s GIIN Impact Forum in Berlin highlighted the growing influence of pension funds in impact investing, alongside discussions on artificial intelligence (AI) and blended finance.
Addressing 1,600 delegates from 60 countries, Amit Bouri, chief executive officer and co-founder of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), reflected on the sector’s evolution.
“Over the past 16 years, our field has grown from a visionary idea to a credible, powerful industry. We now have a track record of mobilising over $1.5trn into solutions, with a community of thousands of seasoned professionals across every asset class,” he said.
According to GIIN’s State of the market report 2025, launched at the event, pension funds now represent the largest source of impact capital, accounting for 35% of total assets under management. Their allocations to impact strategies have grown at an annual rate of 47% since 2019.
AI for good
In a plenary session, impact investing veteran Jim Sorenson, founder of the Sorenson Impact Group, discussed the need to develop AI that is equitable, democratic and aligned with broader social goals.
Sorenson and Sorenson Impact Institute chief executive officer Katie Macc explored the concept of “AI for good” and responsible AI applications.
Speaking about algorithmic bias, Sorenson said he is actively seeking solutions that could involve technical innovation, policy reform or new market practices.
Making impact work
Delegates acknowledged the sector’s challenges – from shrinking development aid and geopolitical tensions to inflation and climate change – while focusing on how institutional investors are scaling impact.
Half of all new impact-focused capital now originates from institutional asset owners, according to speakers in a plenary session featuring Shahzad Memon, senior portfolio manager of responsible investments at Dutch pension fund APG, and Sean Kahn, responsible investment manager at Rest.
Both described strategies for engaging external managers and aligning financial and impact goals through standardised frameworks and active stewardship.
Memon noted that APG, which invests on behalf of ABP, BpfBOUW and PPF APG, is working towards ABP’s goal of €30bn in impact investments by 2030.
“We recently came up with our impact policy last year and have a target of around €30bn invested capital by 2030, primarily in private markets, real estate, infrastructure, private natural capital and private equity,” said Memon.
Blended finance in emerging markets
Blended finance was another key theme at the forum, with speakers from Amundi, Allianz Global Investors and British International Investment (BII) discussing how to mobilise institutional capital at scale for emerging markets.
Leticia Ferreras Astorqui, lead of development finance and impact credit at Allianz GI, outlined efforts to make these markets more investable through risk mitigation and blending mechanisms.
“We need to differentiate whether we need blending for something like infrastructure, agriculture or manufacturing as blending can address both short-term and long-term problems,” she said, adding that the goal is to make emerging markets “less scary” for investors.
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