Corporate Impact
Signals | January 26, 2022
Corporations move into plant-based proteins to hedge against the climate risks of meat
ImpactAlpha, January 26 – You’ve heard about stranded fossil-fuel assets. Get ready for stranded meat assets. The global food system is responsible for …
Photo credit: Summa Equity.
SDGs | January 24, 2022
Summa Equity closes third SDG impact fund at $2.6 billion
ImpactAlpha, January 24 — Summa Equity launched in 2016 to invest in companies working to solve the global challenges identified in the U.N. …
Impact Voices | January 11, 2022
Energy Impact Partners builds a tech portfolio for the low-carbon transition
At EIP, the entire investment focus of our coalition is accelerating the clean energy transition. For our 33 coalition partners, which include utilities, …
The Reconstruction | January 8, 2022
On anniversary of Capitol attack, stakeholders hold corporations accountable for democracy
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 6 – Add political stability to the list of systemic risks that keep investors up at night. ‘Political risk’ has historically …
Institutional Impact | January 5, 2022
Long live ESG! ESG is dead! ESG is… stepping up?
Editor’s note: ImpactAlpha contributing editor Imogen Rose-Smith, a longtime senior writer for Institutional Investor, contributes a bi-weekly column on the policies, practices and strategies of …
Impact Investing | January 4, 2022
Where impact funds are looking to deploy $73 billion in dry powder
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 4 – Real assets. Emerging markets. Early stage impact tech. The financial data provider Pitchbook picked out nearly 700 active impact investment …
Impact Investing | January 4, 2022
Climate Talk: A glossary of terms to guide you through the low-carbon transition
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 4 – If 2021 was the year of net-zero pledges, 2022 could be the year of Scope 3 accounting for companies’ supply …
photo: Greg Reese, Pixabay
Impact Voices | January 4, 2022
Investors press oil majors to address emissions from products
Climate accountability is coming for Big Oil. That message came tucked in a recent news release from Phillips 66, as it became the …
Climate Finance | December 21, 2021
Climate finance in 2022: Mobilizing capital for exponential progress
‘Tis the season for our lookaheads to 2022 and, thanks to ImpactAlpha subscribers, we are able to make the roundups freely available. So …
Impact Investing | December 14, 2021
Eight ways investors are going beyond ESG risk-mitigation to drive real-world impact
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 14 – The recent takedown of MSCI by a team of Bloomberg Businessweek reporters was the latest knock on environmental, social …
Impact Investing | December 13, 2021
Impact brain trust delivers proposals for mobilizing capital for a just transition
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 13 – Mandatory impact accounting. Harmonized sustainability standards. And broadened powers for multilateral development banks and development finance institutions to absorb …
Impact Voices | December 13, 2021
Here’s how we can mobilize private capital for a green and just transition
In July this year, at the invitation of the UK’s G7 Presidency, the Impact Taskforce was formed to answer the pressing question: “How …
Climate Finance | December 9, 2021
Carbon Collective debuts new index of climate solutions
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 9 – Who says public companies can’t have impact? Roboadvisor Carbon Collective is rolling out a new index of 169 publicly …
The cover of Capricorn Investment Group's 2021 impact report
Impact Management | December 8, 2021
‘Tis the season… for impact reports from fund managers and wealth advisors
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 8 – For all the clamor for greater disclosure and transparency in impact investing, few investors are likely to digest all …
Capitalism Reimagined | December 6, 2021
Three ways climate-committed shareholders can flex their power in 2022
While too many global investment firms filled the halls of Glasgow with more hot air, leading early-movers in shareholder action were finding new …
Photo credit: Telus.
Corporate Impact | December 1, 2021
TELUS’ $100 million Pollinator Fund for Good adds three portfolio companies
ImpactAlpha, December 1 — Canadian telecommunications company TELUS launched Pollinator Fund for Good last year to invest in local and international impact startups …
Climate Finance | November 24, 2021
Accelerating net-zero transition pushes incumbents to spin off green ‘ReNewCo’s’
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 24 – They were engines of growth for much of the past century. Now, some of the most iconic names of …
Generate CEO Scott Jacobs
Signals | November 16, 2021
Sustainable infrastructure company Generate Capital becomes a public benefit corporation
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 16 – Generate Capital is embedding its mission to build a more sustainable world into its charter. The San Francisco-based investor, …
Illustration by The One Brief.
Corporate Impact | November 15, 2021
Energy Impact Partners raises more than $1 billion for its second fund
ImpactAlpha, November 15 — New York-based Energy Impact Partners scored commitments from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, media conglomerate Cox Enterprises and utilities Southern …
Climate Finance | November 10, 2021
Price of carbon rises along with sea levels, as market mechanisms emerge
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 10 – The foreign minister of Tuvalu addressing world leaders while knee deep in coastal waters will be one of the …
Dealflow | November 10, 2021
Equitable economic growth tops agenda at Commerce Department convening
ImpactAlpha, November 10 — Top officials across the Biden administration committed to advance economic equity for communities of color and underrepresented groups, at …
Impact Investing | November 4, 2021
Climate crisis is over (if you want it)
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 4 – Global finance leaders tried to evoke something like John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s hopeful paean at “Finance Day” at …
Catalytic Capital | October 29, 2021
Call No. 33: Using catalytic capital to fill climate finance gaps from the bottom up
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 29 – As the COP26 global climate summit kicks off this weekend, much of the focus will be on the massive …
Illustration by Adam Simpson.
Climate Finance | October 28, 2021
Persefoni scores $101 million to expand its carbon management platform
ImpactAlpha, October 28 — Tempe, Ariz.-based Persefoni’s software helps institutional investors and other financial institutions measure, forecast and report on their carbon footprint. …
Catalytic Capital | October 26, 2021
Offtakes, guarantees and blended finance: A lexicon of catalytic climate capital
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 26 – Investments in climate solutions are crucial. Purchase orders can be transformative. Hertz’s order of 100,000 Model 3s underscored the …
Catalytic Capital | October 20, 2021
Deploying catalytic capital to bridge financing gaps for climate action
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 20 – Climate finance is on a roll. Climate finance is stuck. Both statements are true. Investors have poured record sums …
Personal Finance | October 19, 2021
How to ride the climate transition with more than a dozen exchange-traded funds
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 19 – Clean energy. Batteries. Smart grids. ESG funds and clean energy ETFs tracking elements of the climate transition took off in …
Climate Finance | October 14, 2021
Yawning ‘ambition gap’ threatens global climate summit
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 14 – The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook is full of stark warnings just 18 days before a make-or-break global …
Founders David Snydacker, Nick Goldberg, Tom Wilson. Photo credit: Lilac Solutions.
Climate Finance | October 12, 2021
Lilac Solutions raises $150 million to ramp up low-carbon lithium production
ImpactAlpha, October 12 — Electric vehicle and battery makers are facing a shortage of lithium, an essential element for production. Most of the …
Impact Management | October 7, 2021
Consortium launches Novata to drive ESG reporting in private markets
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 7 – Private companies and private markets represent the majority of the world’s economic activity, but their environmental, social and governance, or …
General Motors's Mary Barra addresses investors on Wednesday at the GM Tech Center in Warren, Michigan. (Photo: Steve Fecht for General Motors)
Corporate Impact | October 7, 2021
The EV race is on as GM and Ford move to overtake Tesla
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 7 – GM will double its revenues by 2030 as it rolls out dozens of electric cars, trucks and delivery cars …
Troop cofounders Seb Jarquin, Felix Tabary and Zen Yui in Brooklyn
Stewardship | October 5, 2021
Retail investors get new tools to flex their collective power as engaged shareholders
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 5 – When online investors drove up the shares of GameStop in January, stock market watchers were captivated by the drama, …
Signals | September 29, 2021
Investors push companies to set science-based targets and obey the “carbon law”
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 29 – Global financial institutions holding nearly $30 trillion in assets are pushing Boeing, Alaska Air, Fedex, Duke Energy, Tata Steel …
Impact Voices | September 29, 2021
Four steps investors can take to move beyond ESG greenwashing and drive real impact
ESG-focused assets — increasingly ubiquitous in the global investment landscape — have grown exponentially over the past 10 years. Currently in the United …
Community Finance | September 23, 2021
Microsoft and Truist Financial anchor federal fund for community banks with $120 million
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 23 – Microsoft and Truist Financial are anchoring a new federal fund for community banks. The Mission-Driven Bank Fund from the Federal …
Photo credit: H2Haul.
Corporate Impact | September 21, 2021
Citi Impact Fund adds seven new investments
ImpactAlpha, September 22 — Citi Impact Fund launched last year to invest in companies addressing workforce development, financial inclusion, sustainable energy and water …
Climate Finance | September 21, 2021
On climate action, private investors urge governments to jump in (the water is warming)
ImpactAlpha. Sept. 21 – Many government leaders are being coy about their climate ambitions. Private funders are stepping up theirs. “My message here …
An ad for Climate Week NYC in Brooklyn
Climate Finance | September 20, 2021
It’s Climate Week in New York as global leaders convene to bridge ‘the ambition gap.
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 20 – Climate Week NYC kicks off today with hundreds of sessions meant to showcase climate solutions – and spur action …
Photo credit: FortuneBuilders.
Climate Finance | September 15, 2021
Measurabl raises $50 million to help real estate investors measure for ESG
ImpactAlpha, September 15 — Global real estate investors are increasingly looking to implement environmental, social and governance initiatives in their investments and portfolios. …
Photo credit: The Conversation.
Catalytic Capital | September 14, 2021
Opportunity Finance Network’s Finance Justice Fund secures $23 million
ImpactAlpha, September 14 — Opportunity Finance Network, a Washington, D.C.-based network of community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, is looking to raise $1 …
Conservation | September 14, 2021
Move over SPACs. Here come NACs to turn ecosystem services into tradable assets
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 14 – The New York Stock Exchange is seeking approval for a new kind of publicly traded asset based on the …
Stewardship | September 8, 2021
Companies scramble to get on the right side of Engine No. 1 – and of history
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 8 – This year, companies are taking the call when Engine No. 1 reaches out. Chevron Corp., the world’s No. 8 …
Photo credit: Allbirds.
ESG | September 2, 2021
Eco-friendly shoe company Allbirds files for an IPO, or rather an SPEO
ImpactAlpha, September 2 — San Francisco-based Allbirds, launched in 2015, uses sustainable materials such as wool, castor bean oil and more to make …
Inclusive Economy | August 26, 2021
UK’s Nick Hurd on the “window of opportunity” for a green and inclusive transition
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 26 – Nick Hurd, the former MP and government minister, is heading the Impact Taskforce, created under the U.K.’s presidency of the …
Photo credit: Poblocki Sign.
The Reconstruction | August 12, 2021
Northwestern Mutual backs Black fund managers with a $100 million impact fund
ImpactAlpha, August 12 — Financial services giant Northwestern Mutual is hoping to catalyze investments in underserved Black communities, especially in Milwaukee, where it is …