Awareness of impact investing reaches record high in Japan in 2025

More than a fifth of Japanese consumers were aware of impact investing in 2025, according to a survey published on 20 February by the Japan Social Innovation and Investment Foundation (SIIF). 

The seventh edition of the Consumer Survey on Impact Investing in Japan, based on a survey of more than 4,000 people, reveals 21.1% were aware of the term “impact investing”. 

This includes 8.8% of respondents who have heard about impact investing and have some understanding of its meaning (up 1 percentage point since 2024), while an additional 12.3% report having heard of impact investing but do not know its meaning (a similar level to last year). 

SIIF is GSG Impact’s national partner in Japan, and the survey aims to generate insights to support the development of the Japanese retail impact investing market.

Since the first iteration of the survey in 2019, levels of awareness slightly dipped and remained flat around 17.6% until 2022, but have picked up recently, topping 20% for the first time in 2025.

The Japanese impact investing market has been growing fast in recent years, reaching ¥17.3tn (US$115.3bn) in 2024, a 50% increase on 2023 figures, when impact investments in the country totalled ¥11.54tn. SIIF is GSG Impact’s national partner in Japan.

Japanese consumers do not intend to compromise on financial returns, according to the study, with more than 80% stating they would seek market-rate returns or above in their impact investments.

Nearly a fifth of respondents said they were interested in making impact investments, a 3 percentage points year-on-year increase, but still not at 2019 levels – interest had been on a downwards trend between 2019 and 2024.

Consumers with investment experience are much more likely to be interested in making impact investments than those without: 30% and less than 10% respectively. 

Only 8% of respondents report having undertaken financial literacy training, which has a strong correlation with interest in making impact investments: nearly 60% of consumers with financial literacy education say they are interested in making impact investments, compared with less than a fifth of those without financial education. 

Younger investors have greater knowledge

Younger investors (in their 20s and 30s) show both higher awareness and interest than  other generations, and interest decreases with age both among men and women.

Awareness is higher among male than among female respondents (12.7% and 5.1% respectively report having some understanding of impact investing), and so is interest in making impact investments, to a smaller extent.

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Among the respondents interested in impact investing, the most popular themes were energy, the environment, healthcare and elderly care.

The survey gathered responses from 4,130 consumers nationwide aged 20 to 79 in September 2025.

To grow the retail impact investing market (where consumers make the investments, rather than financial firms), the report concludes that a key strategy should be to target younger generations with investment experience. Highlighting the potential for financial returns at or above market rates with consumers will also be important.

Top image: Freepik.