Section 1: Foundations

This tool is designed to help you assess the transformative potential of your current investment approach. You’ll learn about the principles of Transformative Investment and which activities can be developed or stretched to orientate strategies towards deep systemic change. The Transformative Investment Philosophy has 12 principles within four categories: goal setting investment strategy investment process … from Tool: Transformative Investment insight report

Introduction to the philosophy of Transformative Investment adopted by the Deep Transitions Lab, an approach that goes beyond traditional investment strategies by focusing on system-level change. Transformative Investment recognises the limitations of investment that prioritises short-term financial return, while neglecting social and ecological costs, disregarding unquantifiable uncertainties, and failing to consider long-term systemic dynamics. The … from Quick guide: Transformative Investment Philosophy

How do we guide transformative investments towards achieving both monetary and non-monetary value, such as societal and ecological resilience? This digested read of a pivotal Deep Transitions Lab paper summarises key research findings for investors seeking to advance transformative impact. In it, the authors argue that to address the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and inequality, … from New rules for financing transformative change

Snapshot of the Deep Transitions Lab’s principles for Transformative Investment. Developed through a collaborative research project involving historians, sustainability experts, and investors, the principles can be used as discussion prompts for investors considering how to align their portfolios with the goals of the Second Deep Transition. These principles can be categorised by their role within … from Tool: Twelve principles for transformative investment

This concept note introduces the fundamentals of the Deep Transitions Lab, which aims to support investors in driving system-level change. The Lab is built upon the Deep Transitions project, which developed principles for Transformative Investment grounded in the understanding of large-scale societal shifts. The goal was to move beyond traditional investment approaches in order to … from Quick read: Introducing the Deep Transitions Lab

Presentation setting out the urgent need for a ‘Second Deep Transition’ to a more sustainable and just society. The authors argue we are at a watershed moment, where investors have a crucial role to play. Investing in system optimisation will not be sufficient to address the complex, interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and … from Slides: Introducing the Deep Transitions Lab

Short blog on how the Deep Transitions Lab is bridging science and practice – including the creation of frameworks, metrics and tools, and support for an emerging global knowledge of transformative investors – along with the rationale for becoming a partner.   The Deep Transitions Lab is grounded in the cutting-edge theory of Deep Transitions, … from Shapers of the future: Why partner with the Deep Transitions Lab?

What can the worlds of finance and academia learn from each other? Will technological innovations like electric vehicles be enough to avert climate catastrophe, or will we need to reinvent social norms like the very concept of personal vehicle ownership entirely? Should those concentrating on electrification, like TESLA, diversify into ‘mobility-as-a-service’ rather than just the … from Investing in the Era of Deep Transitions: Professor Johan Schot in Conversation with James Anderson

Achieving sustainability requires not just increased investment, but a fundamental shift in investment strategies. This research paper argues that existing sustainable investment approaches, such as ESG and impact investing, are insufficient as they operate within the existing financial system’s rules, which prioritise short-term financial returns and neglect social and ecological costs. The paper critiques today’s … from Transformative investment: New rules for investing in sustainability transitions

The Gulf of California faces interconnected challenges across food production, fisheries, tourism, conservation, water management, and coastal development. While many promising initiatives exist, they often operate in isolation and struggle to influence the systems that drive environmental degradation and social inequity. The challenge is not to fund more projects, but to create the conditions for … from Creating transitions pathways with CO – Case Study

The Good Investors, an investment collective focused on driving systems change, took part in an experiment with the Deep Transitions Lab to explore how investments can accelerate multi-system transformations. This organised learning journey, rooted in Deep Transitions research, aimed to refine goal-setting, investment strategies, and processes to generate new insights and shift mindsets. The experiment … from Case study: The Good Investors experiment

Baillie Gifford, an independent investment manager, introduced their Positive Change Fund team (aiming to deliver attractive long-term returns and a positive change by contributing towards a more sustainable future) to the Deep Transitions Lab. The group conducted an experiment together, which took place over two segments. The first focused on the PCF portfolio (exploring DT … from Baillie Gifford experiment case study

To finance system change, investors need sound science, tools and practices to gear investments towards the long term and create resilient portfolios. This short extract from a concept note for the Deep Transitions Lab sets out why experimentation is integral to the ethos of the Lab, and outlines four different types of experiments: Type 1: … from What is an experiment?

The Deep Transitions Lab distinguishes itself through a collaborative approach, bringing together academics and investors in a partnership of mutual learning and knowledge co-creation. The methodology is centered around experiments: organised learning journeys that involve working together to analyse a system, develop a vision for a desired future state, construct pathways, and identify investment opportunities … from UNECE podcast: Advancing Transformative Investment through partnership

This short blog describes the characteristics of a transformative bundle, one of four types of experiments conducted by the Deep Transitions Lab. You’ll learn what bundles are, how they differ from blended finance models and the challenges to making these a success. The authors introduce how transformative bundles can provide an innovative approach to financing … from Introducing transformative bundles

A transformative bundle goes beyond traditional blended finance by integrating additional strategies, such as fostering innovation in protected spaces (niche-building), disrupting dominant systems (regime destabilization), and bringing together different actors and initiatives (coupling). The Government of Catalonia is using the notion of bundles to further empower actors to integrate private investment into their coalitions, and … from Case study: Transformative bundles in Catalonia

This blog introduces the story behind the development of Transformative Investment for systems change. It explains the rationale for convening investors to develop and implement an approach to Transformative Investment.  This post argues that the Second Deep Transition – a radical shift towards sustainability comparable in scale to the industrial revolution – will require substantial … from Our journey towards Transformative Investment

Deep Transitions are profound societal transformations, driven by interconnected system changes. These slides take you through the basics of Deep Transitions theory, as an academic framework for understanding and investing in system change. They introduce: characteristics of the First Deep Transition, which started with the Industrial Revolution; the notion of socio-technical systems, which provide for … from Deep Transitions foundational thinking

The Deep Transitions Lab and Transformative Investment are grounded in Deep Transitions theory. Deep Transitions started in 2018 as an interdisciplinary research project, combining an historical analysis of how fundamental changes unfolded in the past with a focus on the future to help redirect those crucial drivers of change into a sustainable direction. In this … from Core concepts video

Published in the journal Research Policy, this paper introduces the concept of Deep Transitions, defined as a series of interconnected and enduring fundamental transformations occurring across numerous socio-technical systems and moving in a similar direction. The authors refer to the build-up of diverse socio-technical systems over the 19th and 20th centuries as the First Deep … from Deep transitions: Emergence, acceleration, stabilization and directionality

The contemporary world is confronted by a double challenge: environmental degradation and social inequality. The authors of this seminal paper, published in 2019, argue these challenges are linked to the dynamics of the First Deep Transition: the creation and expansion of a wide range of socio-technical systems, such as transport, energy and food, in a … from Deep transitions: Theorizing the long-term patterns of socio-technical change