DEVELOPMENT OF INVESTMENTS IN THE SUSTAINABLE FINANCIAL PRODUCTS (CASE OF NORTH MACEDONIA)

Sustainable finance and investing are broad concepts that have been started to be used recently and are an important component that will enable the shift of the countries towards more sustainable development. In particular, they intend to shift the finance towards projects and investments which intend to solve particular environmental and social issues. This research uncovered important information regarding the willingness of investors in North Macedonia to consider environmental/social factors in their investment decisions, and the readiness to invest in sustainable financial products in the future when they become available in the country. The results show that 87.5% of the investors care about the negative impacts that their investment might have on the environment or society. Moreover, they consider as important to take these factors into consideration, however, their main concerns with investing in sustainable products are the lack of global standardization of defining the green projects and unclear use of proceeds. Most investors, 95% have declared that they would be interested to invest in financial products which would pursue some environmental, and social goals, while at the same time achieving positive returns. Data shows that even though currently in North Macedonia there are not many options for sustainable financial products, there is a high level of interest from the side of the investors who want to contribute towards solving environmental and social issues through their investments.

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