April 2026
2026 Canadian Impact Investing Market Report
The Impact Investing Hub is proud to have collaborated once again with SVX for the second landscape market report, the 2026 Canadian Impact Investing Market Performance Report, released on April 24, 2026, in recognition of Earth Week, with an opening at the Toronto Stock Exchange. The report offers one of the most comprehensive snapshots of Canada’s rapidly evolving impact investing landscape. It highlights a market exceeding $160 billion in private and public impact investing assets, underscoring the growing role of capital in addressing social and environmental challenges.
“This year’s report reflects the continued maturation of impact investing in Canada as a core component of the investment landscape. The expansion of the opportunity set across both public and private markets points to a market that is becoming both more accessible and more resilient. At the same time, improvements in data, transparency, and impact frameworks are strengthening investor confidence. For investors, this reinforces that impact investing can play an integral role within diversified portfolios—where the total return includes not only financial outcomes, but the measurable social and environmental outcomes that ultimately create a lasting positive impact within communities.” says Dr. Basma Majerbi, Director of the Impact Investing Hub and co-author of the report.
Key Findings from the 2026 Report
- Impact is a major force in Canadian capital markets
Despite global uncertainty and significant domestic market shifts, impact investing assets in Canada reached over CAD $160 billion across public and private markets. This increase is largely attributable to the inclusion of $136.1 billion in outstanding Green, Social, and Sustainability (GSS) bonds in this year’s analysis. This category continues to grow with $17.8 billion in new issuances in 2025. This broader figure provides a more complete picture of the market, supported by new secondary data from institutional and investor sources. - Private market asset allocation continues to grow but at a modest pace
The core impact investing market of private products continues to grow. But that growth is modest, as reflected in a year-over-year growth in assets under management of 1.6%. - The number of impact investing products continues to grow
The number of private impact investing products continues to grow at a steady pace, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.1% in products for the 2020-2025 period. - Target return expectations have moderated
While 65.3% of products are targeting or achieving market-rate or above-market returns, the portion of products expecting specifically above-market returns has declined, dropping from 21% to only 6.6%. In a more volatile financial environment, this suggests a recalibration of return expectations across both impact and traditional investment strategies. - Financial returns remain balanced but with greater concentration in the upper range
There has been a marked increase in products targeting or achieving returns in the 8-14% range, now accounting for 24% of the market studied. Compared to last year, when return ranges were more highly concentrated in the 2–8% range, this year’s return ranges are more dispersed across the spectrum. This wider distribution better reflects a market that spans concessionary to market-beating returns. - Climate, real estate, and food remain top priorities with growing emphasis on social equity
Investment activity remains concentrated in climate, real estate and infrastructure, and agriculture, with climate and real estate products increasing by 8.2 and 4.3 percentage points, respectively. At the same time, there is a notable rise in products focused on diversity and inclusion, which grew by 6.1 percentage points, indicating a broadening of impact priorities. - Increased adoption of impact frameworks amid ongoing fragmentation
The share of products with formal impact management frameworks, or still in development, has increased from 78% to 93%, indicating progress in adoption. However, relatively few products apply multiple frameworks, and fragmentation persists. As a result, comparability across products remains limited, though widely used anchor frameworks (particularly the Sustainable Development Goals) continue to provide a baseline for alignment.
