On 18 March, we held a breakfast meeting between UNESPA (the representative association of the insurance sector) and SpainNAB, bringing together representatives of the insurance sector, asset managers and key ecosystem actors to address an increasingly central question: how to integrate impact investment into financial decision-making in a strategic way.
In a context marked by the need to respond to major social and environmental challenges such as the climate transition, population ageing and inequality, the meeting put forward a clear idea: mobilising capital towards solutions is not only a question of purpose, but also of efficient risk management and long-term value generation.
Impact and risk: two sides of the same investment decision
One of the most relevant messages was the evolution of the investment approach. Traditionally, sustainability has been addressed from the perspective of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) risk mitigation, but the debate is moving towards a more ambitious logic: actively investing in solutions that generate positive impact.
This shift involves understanding that social and environmental challenges are not external to portfolios, but factors that directly affect their performance. Investing in solutions in sectors such as clean energy, health, inclusion or the circular economy not only contributes to collective well-being, but can also reduce systemic risks and improve the resilience of funds.
In this regard, the three fundamental pillars of impact investment (intentionality, additionality and measurement) make it possible to orient capital towards tangible and measurable outcomes.
From theory to practice: integrating impact into the investment process
From the perspective of managers, it was emphasised that impact should not be understood as an additional layer, but as a structural axis of the investment process. In this vein, the vision shared by Suma Capital reflects how intentionality (investing in solutions to systemic challenges such as climate change or the circular economy) translates into a full integration of impact across all phases: from analysis and decision-making through to active management and divestment.
This approach involves not only identifying opportunities aligned with major structural trends, but also establishing clear metrics, monitoring systems and governance mechanisms that ensure the generation of real impact. A differentiating element is the alignment of incentives, incorporating impact objectives into remuneration and thus reinforcing the convergence between financial and social and environmental outcomes.
For its part, from the perspective of the institutional investor, VidaCaixa focused on the challenge of translating this logic into diversified portfolios. This requires, first, explicitly defining the impact objective within the investment strategy and, second, developing methodologies that allow both environmental and social impact to be measured in a consistent manner.
Taken together, both visions reflect a clear advance: from approaches centred on risks towards models in which impact is managed intentionally, measurably and integrated into decision-making.
Scaling impact: the role of institutional investors
One of the main conclusions of the gathering was that the real challenge is no longer conceptual, but one of scale. For impact investment to contribute meaningfully to addressing major global challenges, it is necessary to mobilise much larger volumes of capital, especially from institutional investors.
On this point, the shared experience revealed two complementary realities. On the one hand, from the management side, it was demonstrated that mature strategies already exist capable of channelling capital towards solutions with measurable impact. On the other, from the insurance side, it was underlined that the incorporation of impact into large portfolios is still at a development stage, conditioned by the need for tools, metrics and frameworks that facilitate its integration.
This combination makes it clear that the challenge is not so much a lack of opportunities, but the need to build bridges between the supply and demand of capital. The trend is therefore clear.
In this context, the development of solutions that allow impact to be integrated without radically altering the structure of portfolios becomes particularly relevant, facilitating a progressive but effective transition towards investment models more aligned with major social and environmental challenges.
90/10 funds: a pragmatic route for mobilising impact capital
In line with its strategy of promoting impact investment at scale, SpainNAB is developing a study in coordination with other national partners of GSG Impact at the European level on 90/10 models. This approach proposes allocating up to 10% of the portfolios of large institutional investors to impact investments, independently of the investment strategy of the remaining 90%. The aim is to facilitate a practical transition, where capital can begin to generate impact without compromising the overall structure of the portfolio.
The 90/10 model has established precedents in Europe. In France, the so-called solidarity pockets in savings products have channelled more than €15 billion towards assets with social impact, according to data from Finansol/FAIR. This example demonstrates that it is possible to mobilise capital in a significant way through simple structures, respecting fiduciary frameworks and generating tangible results in society.
The study, to be presented in the second half of 2026, aims to make visible how this type of structure can allow institutional investors — primarily insurance companies and pension funds — to take a measured step towards impact investment, aligning purpose, return and risk management, as well as analysing whether the current legal framework facilitates such structures and/or how it could be improved to foster or facilitate maximum capital mobilisation.
