In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Uli Grabenwarter, Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Director of Equity Investments at the European Investment Fund, about one of the most uncomfortable questions in impact finance: Why impact investing does not work.

Uli brings a rare perspective to this conversation. Over the course of his career, he has moved from derivatives and traditional finance into venture capital, responsible investing, and impact investing, and today helps oversee one of Europe’s largest fund-of-funds investment platforms.

Our conversation explores the core contradiction at the heart of impact investing: the belief that investors can always generate market-rate returns while also solving society’s most urgent environmental and social challenges. Uli challenges the “no trade-off” narrative, arguing that while some business models can align impact and return, society as a whole still faces a massive trade-off — and until we are honest about who pays for it, progress will remain limited.

We discuss why capital has flowed into impact investing without delivering the level of progress promised by the SDGs, how fiduciary duty limits what investors are willing or able to do, and why the next generation of impact finance needs to become more focused, impact-centric, and grounded in the real problems it claims to solve.

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