From the outset environmental and social aspects have been part and parcel of the EU’s sustainable finance strategy. The need for social investments in order to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on the 2030 Agenda, as well as to realise the social internal market envisaged in the Treaty on the European Union (Article 3), is widely recognised. So is the need to ensure that businesses show respect for human rights as envisaged in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). There are also many indications that investors see social investments as an opportunity, just as they acknowledge that it is risky not to take social factors into account in investments. It is therefore crucial to spell out what constitutes a social investment, as has been done in the case of environmental investments.