Investment Incentives: A Survey of Policies and Approaches for Sustainable Investment

Abstract

The use of incentives to attract, keep, and shape investment impacts the most pressing challenges facing us today, including climate change, corruption, employment, development, harmful competition, and public spending efficiency. How, when, where, and why governments use incentives to attract investment is critically important to whether and how society benefits from investments. However, the use of incentives is not well monitored, evaluated, or understood. This necessitates a closer look and, in many cases, a policy response. CCSI's report, Investment Incentives: A Survey of Policies and Approaches for Sustainable Investment, updates the November 2014 background report for the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment’s (CCSI) Eighth Annual Columbia International Investment Conference, titled “Investment Incentives: The good, the bad and the ugly.” The publication explores the role and application of fiscal, financial, regulatory, and technical support incentives as an approach to sustainable investment.

Keywords: climate change, investment incentives, sustainable investment