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Over the past few years, a new investment philosophy has appeared in the universe of social finance. Impact investing intents to obtain financial returns alongside with social impact. Investors direct funds in projects that create positive social or environmental outcomes and focus on the measurement of impact. Impact investing is seen as a potential solution to meet the ever increasing social needs of the populations in a period during which governments have fewer financial capabilities to do so.
However, its future development entails several challenges. Indeed, key issues emerge around the measurement of social impact, the liquidity of the instruments, the presence of track records and efficient intermediaries, the terminology confusion and whether or not the regulatory environment is enabling. The question also arises whether or not to involve retail and institutional investors on the market.
After describing the concept and the different stakeholders involved in the ecosystem, this master thesis, entitled "The perspectives and challenges to the development of the impact investing market in Belgium", analyses these challenges abroad and then identifies their importance in Belgium through interviews of professionals linked to the topic. The aim is to compare the theoretical and practical aspects and to provide a mapping of the current state of the Belgian market and its perspectives of development in the near future.

Impact investing --- Social impact --- Blended value --- Venture Philanthropy --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Finance

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With climate change, the energy consumption of buildings for cooling purposes is expected to rise, further enhancing global warming through the increase of greenhouse gas emissions. To break this vicious circle, it is essential to decrease the anthropogenic CO2 emissions by lessening the energy consumption in all sectors. Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption in the European Union, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The urge to build more energy-efficient buildings resulted in the emergence of nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB). However, the specifications the nZEB design should comply with might not be sufficient to prevent the risk of overheating in summer, hence the purchase of an active cooling system. 
Passive cooling techniques are investigated through a dynamic simulation of a nearly zero-energy dwelling. Their efficiency is assessed based on their ability to improve thermal comfort while limiting the increase in energy consumption. Thermal comfort is measured based on the theory of adaptative comfort which is the most relevant for a residential building. The passive cooling techniques can be combined to ensure the resilience of the building to global warming. It was found that the most efficient techniques are the ones relying on ventilative cooling. In Western Europe, day cooling should be combined with night cooling to reduce the overheating risk and improve thermal comfort by 39%. Solar protections and smart glazing also offer an efficient protection against overheating. They improve thermal comfort by respectively 34 and 22%. 
The effectiveness of the combined passive cooling techniques is studied over an extreme meteorological event, which is likely to occur by 2100 if nothing is done to prevent global warming. Twenty days of intense heat are studied to evaluate the resilience of a nZEB. It was found that the most efficient combination includes night cooling, thermochromic glazing and adiabatic cooling. Adiabatic cooling is particularly efficient during heat waves. Those techniques allow to decrease the indoor temperature by almost 10°C. However, occupants’ behaviour could have a negative impact on the cooling techniques efficiency.

Passive cooling --- Global warming --- Nearly zero-energy buildings --- Resilience --- Overheating --- Thermal comfort --- Ingénierie, informatique & technologie > Energie