Real assets are becoming a safe haven for impact investors as population growth, urbanisation, energy demand and food insecurity put the planet under increasing pressure, a report by Phenix Capital said.
Megatrends such as climate change, the energy transition, digitalisation and ageing populations are key drivers for long-term capital allocation, with investors increasingly turning to real assets including infrastructure, real estate and natural capital, according to Amsterdam-based impact consultancy Phenix Capital.
In the past decade, the number of real assets funds has grown 180% to 688, Phenix said in its 2025 Real Assets report. Seventy-two percent of those are focused on developed markets and predominantly based in Europe and North America. Emerging markets make up 17% of the real estate impact funds tracked by Phenix, with Africa and South and Central America the most popular regions, while global real asset funds make up the remainder.
The real asset funds category, which includes infrastructure, real estate, farmland and cropland, and timberland and forestry funds, is part of the Phenix impact database, which has been tracking fund investments since 2015.
Of the 688 real assets funds followed by Phenix, close to 41% are currently open for investment. In the past decade, these funds have raised more than €222bn in total capital.
Close to half of the real assets funds are made up of infrastructure impact funds. One quarter is dedicated to real estate, while farmland and cropland and timberland and forestry make up the remaining quarter of all real asset impact funds, Phenix said.
Pension funds most active investors
While farmland and cropland counts for just 12% of the database, this sub-asset class is dominated by billionaire investors seeking stability and steady returns, such as Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, according to Phenix.
Pension funds were the most active investors in real assets funds, collectively committing to 221 funds. Development-finance institutions invested in 178 real assets funds, followed by foundations (152), banks (109) and fund of fund managers (95).
Real assets are often seen as an attractive asset class during periods of rising or high inflation because they tend to outperform other financial assets.
“One of the reasons pension funds are likely to be prolific investors in real asset impact funds is that they typically generate long-term returns, matching pension funds’ long-term liabilities,” Phenix said.
In its report, Phenix cited a 2024 Aviva Investors’ Real Asset Study of 500 institutional investors across Asia, Europe and North America, in which 64% said diversification was a primary reason for allocating to real assets, with 60% seeing it as a key driver of their investments over the next two years.
