ImpactAlpha Open

ImpactAlpha Open: The impact of Trump’s executive orders + extending Opportunity Zones

Dennis Price · January 28, 2025

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🇧🇷 Agents of Impact Call No. 68: Unlocking impact and climate alpha in Brazil. Latin America’s largest country is in the climate hot seat this year. The Amazon city of Belém will host the COP30 climate summit in November just as the US is set to exit from the Paris climate accord. Brazil is seizing leadership not only on climate, but in impact investing more broadly, with a new National Impact Economy Strategy, or Enimpacto. “Amplifying the Brazilian impact ecosystem is not just about showcasing its potential – it’s about challenging entrenched systems that perpetuate inequality and environmental degradation,” says Fama Re.Capital’s Fabio Alperowitch, who will help sketch the outlines of Brazil’s growing impact ecosystem on this month’s Agents of Impact Call, co-hosted with Aliança pelo Impacto, Brazil’s national advisory board for impact investing. 

  • Tune in. Join Alperowitch, along with Feira Preta’s Adriana Barbosa, Wright Capital’s Fernanda Camargo, Giselle Vianna of the Sustainable Social Economic Development Council, and other Agents of Impact to explore opportunities in Brazil for impact and climate alpha, Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 3pm São Paulo. RSVP today (open to non-subscribers).

In this week’s Open:

  • Trump’s wrecking ball
  • Opportunity Zones up for renewal
  • Agent: Cecilia Conrad, Lever for Change
  • Spotlight: Blending finance in Southeast Asia

Let’s jump in. – Dennis Price

Must-reads on ImpactAlpha

  • The impact of Trump’s executive orders. To kick off his second term, President Donald Trump started the clock on US withdrawals from the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accords (again) and declared, perhaps dubiously, an end to birthright citizenship (a federal judge called it “blatantly unconstitutional”). Some of the actions were clearly performative, such as renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Others will have immediate impact. ImpactAlpha pored through the raft of orders – so you don’t have to. Catch up.
  • New opportunities for Opportunity Zones. The shape of Republicans’ new tax bill is not yet known, but that’s not slowing Arctaris Impact Investors,reports ImpactAlpha’s Roody Senatus. The Boston-based fund manager is working on the fourth iteration of its Opportunity Zones strategy on the assumption that Trump will work with Congress to extend the Opportunity Zones community economic development program – and its capital gains tax breaks – or make them permanent before the provisions sunset in 2025. Keep reading.
  • Impact investors want liquidity, too (video). Among the curses of impact investing is that the patient capital needed for many high-impact solutions is inherently more expensive – precisely because it is so patient. The Octobre Liquidity Guarantee Facility, launching this year with support from the European Commission, aims to add liquidity to more impact funds by offering a commitment to buy out the stakes of impatient investors in less than 10 business days. “Octobre is a way to mobilize private capital for impact at a very large scale,” Octobre’s Sylvain Goupille told ImpactAlpha. Watch and learn.
  • Building the ecosystem for climate + gender investing. Political backlash against diversity initiatives and climate action is underscoring the importance of field-building, especially for combined strategies like climate + gender that are only beginning to gain traction among investors. “Investors who step into their role as system-builders can magnify their impact, unlocking solutions that drive equity, resilience and sustainability on a global scale,” say Natalie Shriber and Sana Kapadia of Heading for Change. Read more.
  • Fighting for the freedom to invest. In a move that could have far-reaching consequences for asset management, a federal judge this month ruled that American Airlines breached its fiduciary duty by allowing BlackRock, its retirement fund manager, to vote its proxies for insurgent directors at ExxonMobil. Not so fast, says Andrew Behar of As You Sow in his latest Fiduciary Future column. Rather than hurting Exxon’s performance, the new board members helped impose financial discipline and encourage innovation at the oil giant. Hear him out.

Agents of Impact

🫶 Cecilia Conrad: Pulling the levers of change (video)

As CEO of Lever for Change, Cecilia Conrad has issued open calls for solutions to challenges like maternal and child health, refugee resources and early childhood education. A current challenge may be among her toughest: Restoring trust in the core institutions of American society. “It’s one space where there’s very little partisan gap,” Conrad said, announcing the $10 million challenge with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman last month (the deadline for submissions is Feb. 19). “And it’s particularly concerning, because it is most prevalent among the youngest people.” 

🏃🏽‍♀️ On the move

  • Summa Equity’s Andrew Marino was named board chair at Calvert Impact, succeeding Bart Harvey. 
  • Regina Ross, previously with Khan Academy, joined Opportunity Finance Network as executive vice president and chief people and culture officer. Damon Smith, formerly with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, joins OFN as executive vice president and general counsel. 
  • Impact Capital Managers promoted Eliya Imtiaz to senior analyst. 

The Week’s Podcasts

🎧 This Week in Impact: Back to the future

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: How Trump’s executive orders are affecting investments in climate, equity, AI and global development. Why some investors are optimistic about the extension of Opportunity Zones. And, an effort to bring more liquidity to private impact funds so they can attract more institutional investors.

The Week’s Deal Spotlight

💰 Blending finance for Southeast Asia’s green transition funds

The 11 countries of Southeast Asia derive about three-quarters of their power supply from fossil fuels. The region receives the lowest share of global clean energy and infrastructure finance. A key obstacle: a lack of robust regulatory frameworks for private participation, according to the International Energy Agency, which estimates some $130 billion annually is needed for the region’s low-carbon transition. EnterSUSI Partners, a Swiss energy transition investment firm, which has raised $139 million for its Asia Energy Transition Fund and for a co-investment vehicle with British International Investment and FMO, the Dutch development bank. SUSI had closed the fund in 2023 but reopened it for new investments last year. SUSI now has $259 million to invest in utility-scale and commercial and industrial renewable projects in Asia.

Get in the Game

💼 Step up

  • CalPERS is hiring a sustainable investments officer in Sacramento.
  • Echoing Green is searching for a capital manager for a remote role, preferably in The Bay Area.
  • Emerson Collective is looking for four MBA summer associates in San Francisco.

Sign up to Impact Careers get the top impact investing job listings and internships right in your inbox. Register for free.

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