Last updated in September 2025
This page is actually my reason for starting a blog in the first place. There are many exciting options out there to directly invest money in sustainable projects. These investments are often very direct and would not have taken place were it not for the money of a small number of investors. That’s why these investments are called impact investments: the impact is not created unless they receive an investors money. Which is not the case for traditional investments in large companies, which usually find it easy to raise funds.
Unfortunately, these smaller options are sometimes very difficult to find and not always easy to trust. With this page, I want to save you the hassle, show you which platforms are out there and kickstart your impact investing journey! I’ll also put a link to reviews of the respective investment provider where I have invested with them myself.
Two more things before you start investing in any of these:
- Check out my General Tips article for some important info on tracking your investments and on saving fees when investing in other currencies
- In my dedicated articles on the investment platforms I mention, you will sometimes find referral codes. If you use them while signing up, you will often get a bonus on your first investment and also support me in writing this blog 🙂
Crowdfunded Bonds and Loans: Fixed income with direct impact
In my view, loaning money to fund sustainable projects are the most straightforward way of impact investing for retail investors: You transfer money to the investing platform, which in turn wires it to the borrower. The borrower uses the money to fund a solar installation, buy sustainable wood to create musical instruments or a drip irrigation system for vegetables. As the project starts generating returns – solar power reducing energy costs, instruments and veggies being sold – the borrower can pay the loan back with interest.
Depending on the project, a loan can be paid back within a year or less. That can be the case if the money’s recipient only needs to bridge a temporary lack of liquidity, for instance to buy supplies. But usually a loan will take at least 3-5 years until it’s repaid. In recent years, several platforms have even started offering loans lasting 7-10 years, which gives the borrower more long-term stability. Many projects don’t actually pay back their initial investment within 3-5 years. So for the loan to be paid back so quickly, it has to be refinanced. This means the borrower has to find another investor to provide new funds to pay back the loan as agreed. That’s perfectly normal business, but can increase costs and therefore reduce impact.
Suitable for you if:
> You want to invest a small part of your money directly into a project you belive in
> You are happy with being a rather active investor, not the invest-and-forget-type
Advantages:
- There are some REALLY cool projects with real positive impact on the environment or people’s lives out there! They often depend on this kind of funding and would probably not happen without it, meaning your investment makes a visible difference. What’s more, this difference is sometimes made there where it matters most, i.e. developing countries.
- Very low minimum investments. Individual investments are possible from around 25€, though that’s more for building trust in the platform rather than creating returns.
- Diversification. Fixed income investments are a good way to spread out your investments over different companies, projects or countries, thereby reducing risk. Because the duration and interest of bonds and loans are fixed, it allows you to plan your investments better. Of course, no return is ever guaranteed and there is always the risk that you might lose it all – although some offers come with a partial guarantee provided by government development agencies.
Disadvantages:
- Illiquidity. Because these loans are not publicly traded, you won’t be able to sell your investment on a “secondary market” to somebody else. That’s a major difference compared to, say, shares you buy on a stock exchange. You will have to wait until the end of the loan’s term to get your money (plus interest) back.
- Potentially risky. I personally would not make crowdfunded loans a core component of my investment strategy, for a variety of reasons. They are not or not easily tradable, so it will be difficult to get your money back before the bond ends. Also, investments are often in developing countries with their very own risks such as lack of political stability. For me, they are rather a “satellite investment”, suitable for maybe 10-15% of your investments.
Do you feel different? Challenge this in the comments!
Examples (links lead to my reviews; more options on the overview page):
- Trine.com (solar and other green projects in developing countries)
- Lendahand.com (social investments in developing countries) and Lendahand.co.uk (off-grid solar in Africa)
Crowdfunded Private Equity: Directly invest in start-ups – the sustainability champions of tomorrow
Buying their way into young companies with great potential has traditionally been the exclusive privilege of the rich. The shares of such companies cannot be bought on a stock exchange like the shares of large companies. Until recently, it was necessary to be part of exclusive investor networks or to know people who know people to benefit from the enormous growth potential of young companies. With the rise of crowdfunding platforms, buying start-up shares has become an easy, if risky, way of impact investing for retail investors. Platforms such as Republic or Crowdcube collect money from hundreds or even thousands of small investors to provide capital to young companies with great ambitions.
This is clearly a very risky asset class. The most successful results of a crowdfunding campaign can go on to become a great success. Revolut, a multi-billion fintech success story raised money this way. But most will grow very slowly or not at all. What’s more, many start-ups fail completely, often resulting in a complete loss of all the money invested.
On the upside, the potential rewards are high and it’s seriously cool to invest in creative companies! Just imagine being one of the first to invest in the company that will end the plastic crisis for good!
A fair question: Will you ever see your money again?
That’s may be exagerrated. Nevertheless: if you decide to buy private equity, don’t consider it an investment but rather a donation to a cause you believe in. With no other asset class is the guideline “don’t invest what you can’t afford to lose” is as important as here. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your homework: do some research about the company’s market and critically assess its business model before you invest/”donate” anything. And even if the investment ends up a success, you might not get your money back for a very long time. Opportunities to “cash out” are determined by “exit events”. This means the company does an IPO and gets listed on a stock exchange or is bought by another.
So if you decide to go for this exciting asset class, only invest a very small percentage of your total assets and diversify! Many small investments instead of a few large ones. Recommendations on the degree of diversification vary. Aim for at least 10, although some recommendations consider 50 individual very small investments optimal.
To arrive at the sum to individually invest in start-ups you could do as follows: Decide on a target value of your total assets to invest, say 2-3% and make this your “donation budget”. Then divide it by 10 or 50 to arrive at the sum you will invest into individual start-ups. The more you want to diversify, the longer it will take to find suitable investment opportunities. So: be patient and don’t compromise on your standards. Take the time to wait for opportunities to show up that have the potential for real impact.
Suitable for you if:
> You can afford to lose a bit of money and also won’t beat yourself up over it.
> You want to make some targeted investments in companies you believe in.
> You don’t mind putting in some research.
Advantages:
- With high risk comes high potential! Many start-ups fail, but some rise up to become great successes, contributing a lot to sustainable development and a large financial return. The idea (but not the promise) is that those few high-flighers over-compensate with high return on investment for all the newcomers that don’t make it.
- Very low minimum investments, can be as low as 5£.
- Exciting learning opportunity! Investing in new, creative business models and products gives you a lot to talk about and you learn a lot in the process of researching the company. Some companies allow or even encourage their investors to become active partners or coaches to support them in their development.
- Non-financial perks: Some crowdfunding platforms have built-in reward systems. You could become a preferential customer of the young company or get other perks.
Disadvantages:
- Very high risk.
- Uncertain timeframe. No guarantee that you might ever sell the investment and thus turn a profit. Some platforms offer a limited secondary market to sell your investments before an “exit event” happens, but don’t count on it.
- Time intensive. Requires a lot of time for doing the research on so many individual investments – or to just regularly check your platforms for new opportunities.
- Sometimes intransparent. The details of an investor’s relationship with the company can be rather complicated: how or if you have a say in decisions, what happens when new investors join etc.
Examples (links lead to my reviews; more options on the overview page):
- Republic Europe (UK)
- Crowdcube (UK)
- Invesdor (NL, provides also loans)
- Greenrocket (AT, provides also loans)
Peer to Peer (P2P) Lending: Limited options for sustainable investing, but very tangible impact on real people
P2P lending is growing very quickly these days. Popular platforms include Mintos or Bondora, but there are dozens of smaller ones trying to get a foot in before it’s too late.
P2P lending platforms are to the credit market what AirBnB is to the accommodation market. They match people in need of money with investors, eliminating the role of the bank. This means cheaper credits for borrowers and sometimes juicy returns for investors, since the platform only takes a small cut of the borrower’s interest payments.
Many of these platforms don’t claim to benefit sustainabile development in any way, so I don’t focus on them. Indeed, investor returns of 10% or more raise doubts on whether the borrowers should be allowed to take a loan. High debt is a dangerous social issue and I’ve seen short-term credits in Russia with 19% return p.a. on Mintos. Very suspicious.
Nevertheless, some platforms allow you to invest in loans for small companies with unspectacular, but nevertheless needed business models. Why not invest in the expansion of a daycare company at 4.5% p.a.?
Suitable for you if:
> Short to medium investment horizon (6 months to several years)
> You want to invest in very real, down-to-earth businesses or people, perhaps even in your own city
Advantages (can vary greatly depending on platform):
- Returns can be attractive without seeming exploitative – the borrower might have gotten the same loan with a bank, but at even higher cost.
- Platforms are (still) plentiful, so you can probably invest in your own currency, eliminating foreign exchange risk.
- Automated investing algorithms have become standard and make managing your loan portfolio automatically a piece of cake. But they don’t allow you to invest “sustainably”
Disadvantages (can vary greatly depending on platform):
- Platforms are sometimes rather intransparent. The risks are not always very clear (reminder: high interest rates tend to correspond with high risk). However, online long-term experience reports convey an overall positive picture of the business model as such. It’s something.
- Most times you don’t know who the borrower actually is and whether the use of the money is aligned with your values.
Examples (no reviews yet in this category):
- Mintos
- Lend.ch
- Bondora
P2P lending platforms (here: mintos.com) mainly advertise the dream of passive income aspect, not impact
Green Real Estate: Invest in physical assets that are key to the energy transition
Real estate is one of the most traditional investments there is. I still consider it an “Alternative Investment” in the sense that it’s not for your own private or business use. Instead, this section is intended to cover real estate investments as a way to diversify your portfolio. In particular, crowdinvestment platforms for real estate have become more common and have made such investment accessible to non-millionaires.
Unfortunately, I have as of yet not found a way to specifically invest in sustainable real estate developments. If you how to invest energy efficient and otherwise sustainable buildings, please let me know in the comments!
Community-driven projects
Whether it’s a solar installation on your daughter’s school or wind turbines on the farm where you saw your first cow: your investment can also strenghten your local communities. You will feel that you’re helping to build your community’s future and possibly bond with neighbours and like-minded people nearby. An emotional return that can be much more rewarding than any interest you might get back from it.
These projects might be backed by a cooperative, where like-minded people join together to achieve a common goal. Or it could be a local utility crowdfunding a solar installation, giving investors a discount on their electricity bills.
In any case, these projects probably have a rather long investment horizon and stakes in them might not be tradable. This makes them an expression of your personal commitment towards the project’s goal and the local community, rather than a way to generate returns.
I haven’t made my own experiences with this kind of investment. If you have, let us know in the comments below! I’m in particular interested in ideas on how to find investable projects.
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