Billionaires have long utilized their philanthropic or impact investment capital to tackle social and environmental issues, and today, more and more billionaires see it as their responsibility to use their business resources to generate impacts.
In fact, around 95% of billionaires believe that they should use their wealth and/or resources to help address global challenges, with more than two thirds seeing it as their responsibility to “lead the way,” according to a UBS report released on Thursday.
Areas where billionaires see greatest potential to make a positive impact were led by smart agriculture, clean water, and poverty alleviation. Green energy and education are also regarded as areas of opportunity by billionaires, according to the report.
“Like everyone else, they are concerned about the challenges facing the world, and they are in an ideal position to use their entrepreneurial capital to deliver fresh approaches and effective ways of doing what’s needed to tackle these issues,” George Athanasopoulos, head of global family and institutional wealth at UBS, said in the report.
The eighth edition of the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report was based on research on more than 2,500 billionaires from 75 markets and a survey of its 50 billionaire clients between June and September.
For many billionaires, smart agriculture, which leverages technology in the agricultural industry, is a natural issue to address as many own tracts of farmland. Four in ten billionaires surveyed by UBS chose smart agriculture as one of the areas where they can make the greatest impact.
Billionaires are most active at the beginning of the farm-to-table value chain, using agricultural technology to improve productivity and reduce environmental damage. The total number of smart agriculture patents from billionaire-related companies have grown to 5,565 in 2022, compared to 4,804 in last year and just 627 a decade ago, according to UBS.
For example, both Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are actively involved in vertical farming, alternative proteins, fertilizers and crop protection, and food supply chain management, according to UBS.
More than a third of the billionaires surveyed are investing in food, water, and education, among other areas, with capital from their businesses, roughly the same proportion who are investing through their philanthropy, UBS said.
When it comes to pure business and investment opportunities, the billionaires surveyed favor energy, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, and software and services over the next five years. In terms of regions, they believe Asia Pacific (excluding mainland China), China, and North America have the best outlook, according to the report.
Source: Barrons