cargill
cargill | March 4, 2017
Is Brazil’s progress against deforestation at risk?
Mighty Earth, an environmental watchdog, used drones and satellite imagery to monitor the impact of farmers who supply Burger King, one of the …
Rodney Foxworth on reparative investing for shared power in a common future (podcast). Foxworth, CEO of Oakland-based Common Future, gets personal in conversation with host Monique Aiken on The Reconstruction, the new podcast series from ImpactAlpha. Their conversation ranges from the need to confront power, the possibilities for reparative investing, and the role of empathy in a time of division. Reparative investing builds on concepts of restorative economics developed by Kataly Foundation’s Nwamaka Agbo and others. “For me, it always starts with who has the power? How can that power get disrupted?” Foxworth tells Aiken. “And how can more people, particularly those who have been most adversely impacted by these challenges, actually have power and assert that power for themselves?” Building new systems, Foxworth says, requires “a reckoning with how white supremacy and patriarchy… weakened democracy, weakened our political apparatus, weakened investments into infrastructure, weakened our ability to really take on climate issues.”
Why institutional investors are adding independent verification to their impact due diligence. As asset owners allocate more capital to impact funds, they are looking for reliable ways to identify best-in-class managers. “This is where impact verification comes in,” writes Christina Leijonhufvud of BlueMark, a Tideline company. “A statement from a third-party impact verifier can provide confidence that a fund’s representations of its impact practices are accurate, while also identifying potential areas of impact risk for future monitoring.” Nearly half of the 115 impact investors that have signed the IFC’s Operating Principles for Impact Management have published the required verifier statements. Leijonhufvud expects impact verification to become the de facto best practice for impact fund managers seeking to raise capital, “especially as prudent asset allocators rely on insights from impact verifications to reduce impact risks and enhance impact results.”
SunFunder reaches $70 million close for Solar Energy Transformation fund. The off-grid solar finance company’s blended-finance fund backs solar companies improving energy access across Africa and Asia. It closed the fund with investments from OeEB, the development bank of Austria, Swedfund, Bank of America, Mercy Investment Services, the Schmidt Family Foundation and members from the Toniic impact investor network.
Celebrating women, internationally. The caregiving and economic burdens of the COVID pandemic have fallen heavily on women, who have lost jobs at nearly double the rate of men. Women have stepped up, organizing and mobilizing for political change, combating climate change, and investing in one another. Today, and every day, we salute the leadership and power of international women. Here are a few of the International Women’s Day activities we’re tuning into:
BlocPower’s Donnel Baird and Future Earth’s Stephanie Shepherd join the board of directors in Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project… Andy Moniz, ex- of Putnam Investments, joins Acadian Asset Management as director of responsible investing… Emerson Collective is recruiting a portfolio support analyst in Palo Alto, Calif… Cartica Management is recruiting an ESG engagement manager in the Washington-Baltimore area.
ImpactAlpha, January 6 — A few of the keywords thrown around on last month’s Agents of Impact Call No. 26: accountability, electrification, institutional, …
What: The Call No. 25: Gender-smart investing for a sustainable recovery Join SME.NG’s Thelma Ekiyor, Trade Depot’s Onyekachi Izukanne, Development Partners International’s Takudzwa Mutasa, Alitheia’s Temilade Denton, …
The people and principles needed to solve the challenges of financing solar power for frontline health clinics were represented on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of …
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 1 – What got us here won’t get us where we need to go. Guidelines that govern global finance need to …
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 27 – Investors have been talking about systemic risks at least since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. More recently, climate …
It’s long past time to get political. Impact investing, with appeal on both the left and the right, has generally steered clear of …
“It’s a great time for new entrants, but for those of us who’ve been doing this for a while it is equally urgent to raise our game right and to not get complacent,” said Margot Brandenburg of the Ford Foundation.
ImpactAlpha, Jun 24 – The action in climate action is shifting to infrastructure. Driven by falling price curves for renewables, mispriced risk, and …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 4 – A disruptive technology has to be 10 times better than what it’s replacing. Tech venture capitalists aim to recoup …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 30 – The first annual assessments of impact investors are coming in under the International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles for Impact …
ImpactAlpha, February 5 – Small and growing businesses are the pillars of local economies, in both developed and developing economies. Startups are engines …
ImpactAlpha, April 14 – Don’t refer to conventional finance as ‘mainstream,’ ImpactAlpha’s David Bank said on The Call earlier this month. Call it ‘legacy …
Host Brian Walsh discusses the big private equity funds looking to make a splash in impact with roundtable regulars Imogen Rose-Smith and David Bank.
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 1 – There was an important history lesson embedded in the confirmation hearings of Attorney General-designate Merrick Garland, who is expected to …
On this week’s podcast, host Monique Aiken chats with ImpactAlpha’s Roodgally Senatus about Bitwise Industries’ big raise and BlocPower’s Donnel Baird, this week’s …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Philanthropic foundations tend to be cautious and slow-moving beasts. One signal of the urgency of the current moment: the billion-dollar …
Host Brian Walsh is joined by Amy Cortese to talk about the growing corporate demand for soil carbon.
Host Monique Aiken checks in with Suzanne Biegel in London to debrief this week’s GenderSmart Investing Summit.
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 10 – The broad problem of systemic bias in the asset management industry became very specific when fund manager Rachel Robasciotti pitched …
On this week’s show, host Brian Walsh engages NYU Stern School’s Tensie Whelan about corporate board leadership – or the lack of it …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 3 – As founder of The Workers Lab, Dr. Carmen Rojas led a nonprofit incubator and investor with the tagline “building power …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 2 – A contested election. A political deal. An historic sellout. Screech… halt… stop. The presidential election just finished had a decidedly …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 1 – Talk about a signal. The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 kicked off the period of systemic reform, multi-racial progress and shared …
ImpactAlpha, Feb 1 – The Reconstruction series will engage investors, entrepreneurs, activists and academics in the U.S. and around the world, as Aiken puts …
In The Price of Inequality, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz notes the moments in history when people rise up to say something …
With Democrats now in control of both the House and Senate, the Biden Administration has a once in a generation opportunity to “build …
As it reported its fourth straight quarterly loss yesterday, Exxon tried to deflect a growing shareholder revolt by adding an independent board member …
“Materiality is being redefined – through pressure on business from wider civil society, and through precedents established by company practice and, increasingly, regulation …
As we finally put 2020 into hindsight, the road ahead is uncertain. On the one hand, stock markets continue to thrive, and the …
Regenerative agriculture may be in vogue, but in many ways, it’s as old as agriculture itself, as practiced by our ancestors and to …
Pollution and climate change disproportionately affect communities of color. In the U.S., decades of systemic racism and economic disadvantages mean Black and Hispanic …
After years of signaling its intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement to fight climate change, the United States made the decision official …
During Bill Clinton’s campaign for the presidency, he shared his vision of a federal government initiative that would provide $1 billion in financial …
Marcia Fudge will be the 6th Black person to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since 1966, so how could …
Power is critical to Africa’s development. At least 600 million people across the continent that don’t have access to affordable and reliable power. …
Redavia Solar created a concessionary solar power program to continue attracting customers
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 5 – Seven-time entrepreneur-turned-investor Kim Folsom is seeking to bridge a massive gap: financing for the millions of U.S. businesses that don’t …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 26 – There was no heat in the building in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood where Baird grew up, so he and his sister …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 19 – The former Hollywood super agent spotted a disconnect. Those green-lighting movies and TV didn’t represent the diverse audiences consuming them. …
Goldman Sachs’ commitment this week of $130 million in credit to Jackson, Miss.-based Hope was the latest, and one of the largest, shows …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 5 – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has a warning for nations prioritizing self-interest in their pandemic responses: “No one in the world can be …
If putting a price on carbon is the key to getting to net-zero, Bill Winters – with an assist from Mark Carney – …
In a star-studded inauguration featuring Lady Gaga and J-Lo, the 22-year old poet stole the spotlight at president Joe Biden’s inauguration. Accolades poured …
“Welcome to the New Georgia,” proclaimed Senator-elect Raphael Warnock. “It is more diverse, and it’s more inclusive. And it readily embraces the future.” …
Earlier this week, 91-year-old Margaret Keenan in England received the first COVID-19 vaccination (yes, the second was an 81-year-old named William Shakespeare). That …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 4 – You could almost see the tumbleweed blowing down the streets of downtown Las Vegas when Tony Hsieh launched The Downtown …
ImpactAlpha, November 20 – Follow the women… to catalyze an economic recovery and unlock trillions in new consumer spending power. Tech-enabled startups are …
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 13 – Bold leaders. Taking action. Driving impact. That’s the tagline on the snappy Agents of Impact section on the new ImpactAlpha.com …
Mighty Earth, an environmental watchdog, used drones and satellite imagery to monitor the impact of farmers who supply Burger King, one of the …