Research
Institutional Capital
We study how sovereign wealth funds deploy capital towards sustainable development, and what that capital delivers in returns and impact.
Sovereign wealth funds manage more than $10 trillion with long investment horizons, which places them among the few investors able to close a meaningful share of the SDG financing gap. Yet their sustainable investments remain poorly measured.
The program builds transaction-level evidence on what sovereign funds actually do. In collaboration with the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF), we jointly build and continuously update the IFSWF Global Transaction Database, which tracks direct and private-market investments by sovereign funds. On this basis we test whether SDG-aligned deals perform differently from conventional ones and identify what drives their impact.
Flagship projects
- Sovereign Wealth Funds Investment along the SDGs – data, performance and impact of SWF sustainable investments.
Program documents
Papers
- The Times Are They A-Changin’? Tracking Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Sustainable Investing – Bortolotti, Loss, van Zwieten
- Sovereign Wealth Funds and the COVID-19 Shock: Economic and Financial Resilience in Resource-Rich Countries – Bortolotti, Fotak, Hogg
IFSWF Annual Review articles
- The African Sovereign Underweight: A Structural Diagnosis – Bortolotti, IFSWF Annual Review 2026 (Case study 1, p. 32)
- Resilience and Realignment: Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Sustainable Investments in the Age of Geoeconomic Fragmentation – Bortolotti, Mangat, IFSWF Annual Review 2024
- Navigating the Polycrisis: Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Sustainable Investments in Turbulent Times – Bortolotti, Mangat, IFSWF Annual Review 2023
- The Sustainability Footprint of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Recent Developments – Bortolotti, Loss, van Zwieten, IFSWF Annual Review 2022
Annual Report articles
- From Mitigation to Resilience: Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Evolving Climate Strategies (2025)
- Unlocking Impactful Capital: The Role of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (2025)
- Navigating the Polycrisis: Sovereign Wealth Fund Sustainable Investments amid Geopolitical Shifts (2024)
- The Sustainability Footprint of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Recent Developments (2023)
- The Times Are They A-Changin’? Tracking Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Sustainable Investing (2022)
- Sovereign Wealth Funds and the Global Energy Transition (2022)
Insights
- A $400 Trillion Question for Global Finance – Bortolotti, Dec 2025
- The Private Equity Opportunity in Climate Adaptation and Resilience – Zimmermann (Temasek), Jul 2025
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