Currently, the established traditional understanding of investing is undergoing changes due to the increasingly widespread global economic trends. The article aims to analyse the phenomenon of social investment and its applicability in the context of the Russian economy. The study is based on a comparison of the concepts of corporate social responsibility and impact investment in the framework of the ESG-approach, as well as on a comparison of the practice of social investment in Russia and the world. The article examines foreign experience of implementing a cooperative approach to investment involving business and the state. The reasons for introducing cooperation between business and the state concerning large socially significant projects in Russia, as well as their possible results are presented.