Originals
Photo: Dllu (Wikicommons)
Climate Finance | September 14, 2023
Protesters and private investors to pressure global leaders at Climate Week NYC
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 14 – When world leaders jet into New York for the annual UN General Assembly this weekend, it will be hard …
Climate Finance | August 15, 2023
Clean energy investors are not waiting for Inflation Reduction Act’s billions to flow
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 15 – For Caelux Corp., investing in building a new solar factory outside Los Angeles was a no-brainer. Tax credits in …
Mangrove forest in Sindh, Pakistan
Conservation | August 9, 2023
Revival of Pakistan’s mangroves provides a blueprint for global restoration
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 9 – Less than 20 years ago, Keti Bandar, a coastal town in southeastern Pakistan, had barren shores. Today, it’s a …
Impact Investing | July 27, 2023
Catalytic grants aim to ready communities to deploy historic clean energy funding
ImpactAlpha, July 27 – When the Covid pandemic hit, philanthropic organizations mobilized with relative lightning speed to address the crisis and its impact …
Climate Finance | June 21, 2023
Could a ‘New Global Pact’ wring catalytic capital from the World Bank and development finance institutions?
ImpactAlpha, June 21 – In the year since Barbados’ Mia Mottley floated “The Bridgetown Agenda,” the need for 21st century institutions for financing …
ESG | May 31, 2023
Big Chill: Political backlash and legal threats sap shareholder support for climate action and ESG
ImpactAlpha, May 31 – Shareholders are voting on a record number of resolutions related to corporate action on climate and ESG – for …
Impact Investing | May 4, 2023
With rate hikes and bank woes, impact investors and entrepreneurs face a capital crunch
ImpactAlpha, May 4 – Like cartoon characters running in air, impact investors best not look down. Gone are the low interest rates and …
China | April 17, 2023
Can China’s impact investing ecosystem expand beyond green energy and ESG?
ImpactAlpha, April 17 – China manufactures more batteries than the rest of the world combined, by far. The country’s spending of $546 billion …
Scaling Impact | April 13, 2023
The next step in pay-for-performance: A marketplace for buying and selling social outcomes
ImpactAlpha, April 13 – A new marketplace has brokered its first deal: the “sale” of $2 million in improved education and mental health …
Muni Impact | April 6, 2023
Mass migration, stranded communities and ‘chronic’ climate disruptions challenge the muni market
ImpactAlpha, April 6 – The municipal bond market has barely begun to grapple with the risks posed by climate change, despite an escalating …
photo: World Economic Forum
Institutional Impact | March 16, 2023
In Larry Fink’s letter to investors, ESG is the business imperative that dare not speak its name
ImpactAlpha, March 16 – Don’t expect BlackRock to back off from ESG any time soon. Even if the acronym appears nowhere in chairman …
Banking Impact | March 13, 2023
Climate tech and other startups exhale after the U.S. backstops Silicon Valley Bank depositors
ImpactAlpha, March 13 – At the end of a nervous weekend, disaster was averted for Silicon Valley’s ecosystem of climate tech, health tech …
Climate Finance | March 6, 2023
India poised to lead – and test – the just energy transition
ImpactAlpha, March 6 – India is fast becoming the focus of efforts to super-charge climate funding into the Global South. Under Prime Minister …
Policy Corner | February 24, 2023
Policymaking for workers and communities in the Year of the ‘S’ (video)
ImpactAlpha. Feb. 24 – “A labor market where workers have more opportunities and have more power and have more leverage is a good …
photo: dylan nolte
Policy Corner | February 21, 2023
New rules to account for a key corporate asset: employees
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 21 – Unemployment is at record lows. Manufacturing and union jobs are making a comeback. Workers are holding their employers to …
Climate Finance | February 14, 2023
Private equity giants double down on the low-carbon transition and impact investing
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 14 – Brookfield Asset Management made waves last June when it closed fundraising for its $15 billion energy transition fund, the …
Leslie Brun and Aarti Kotak of Ariel Alternatives
Inclusive Economy | February 13, 2023
Why corporate buyers bet $1.5 billion with Ariel Alternatives to diversify supply chains and close racial wealth gaps (Q&A)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 13 – Building up Black-led firms to become suppliers to America’s largest corporations is a long-term project. With Project Black, Ariel …
Climate Finance | January 26, 2023
Voluntary carbon markets face a reckoning over credit quality and environmental impact
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 25 – Are carbon markets a key pillar of climate finance, or an empty exercise in double-counting and greenwashing? After soaring …
photo: World Economic Forum
Capitalism Reimagined | January 19, 2023
What if they threw an elite global forum in a Swiss ski resort and no one cared?
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 19 – At least for those of us who aren’t there, it is definitely cooler to skip Davos than to attend …
John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy (photo: ImpactAlpha)
Muni Impact | January 17, 2023
Overheard at the Public Finance Conference: Investment opportunities in Emerging Market America
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 17 – A computer glitch that snarled air traffic last week presented a fitting backdrop as government and finance leaders gathered …
Policy Corner | December 14, 2022
The case of the suddenly missing trillions in ESG investments
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 14 – It’s an ESG whodunnit. Sustainable investment assets in the U.S. totaled $17.1 trillion in 2020, according to US SIF. …
Climate Finance | December 8, 2022
Move over climate, here come biodiversity disclosures
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 8 – Even as a mandatory climate disclosure rule proposed by U.S. regulators hits speed bumps, efforts are underway to require …
Source: Amplify ESG
Policy Corner | December 5, 2022
Pro-ESG forces rally to confront backlash against corporate accountability, workers rights and risk management
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 5 – It took a while, but advocates for the integration of environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions are …
Policy Corner | November 23, 2022
For pension fund managers, Department of Labor puts ESG back on the table – again
ImpactAlpha, Nov.23 – Cannot! Can so! Just as some states are trying to block so-called ESG investing, the U.S. Department of Labor has …
Climate Finance | November 15, 2022
New narrative of climate action: Unstoppable progress and immense opportunity
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 15 – It has become fashionable to dismiss global climate confabs like COP27 as so much “blah blah blah.” But for …
Photo credit: Akintune Babatunde
Climate Finance | November 10, 2022
At COP27, ‘loss and damages’ inches from discussion to action
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 10 – Scotland kicked off the race with $7 million. Then came $13.5 million from Denmark, $10 million from Ireland, $50 …
Photo credit: Tienda Pago
Frontier and Growth Markets | November 8, 2022
Inclusive fintechs build on gains to help emerging market businesses weather the economic storm
ImpactAlpha, November 8 – First it was Covid lockdowns. Then global supply-chain disruptions. Now, the rising cost of goods and interest rates is tightening …
Impact Investing | November 3, 2022
A new kind of carbon credit incentivizes fossil fuel producers to ‘keep it in the ground’
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 3 – ‘Keep it in the ground’ has long been a rallying cry for climate activists. A new company is creating …
Impact Investing | November 2, 2022
What’s at stake for climate, ESG and impact investors in the U.S. midterm elections
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 2 – The annual global climate summit known as COP27, this year in Egypt, will coincide with next week’s midterm elections …
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Catalytic Capital | October 26, 2022
Creative finance is needed to plug gaps in global climate funding – and to rescue COP27
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 26 – Climate action is facing mighty headwinds just two weeks before the COP27 global climate summit kicks off in Sharm …
photo: Phenix Capital
Climate Finance | October 18, 2022
Rockefeller Foundation’s new climate strategy: A Q&A with Thomas Belazis
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 18 – In late July, The Rockefeller Foundation announced a major shift: it would make climate central to everything it does. …
Gender Smart | September 26, 2022
How women-led funds in South Africa are unlocking capital for women and small businesses
ImpactAlpha, September 26 – Gender-lens investing is no longer a niche or little-known strategy. Still, too little capital is making it into the hands …
Climate Finance | September 15, 2022
Overheard at India’s ‘Impact 2022’: Climate investment tipping point
ImpactAlpha, September 15 – India is experiencing a surge of interest in climate investment and innovation, thanks to the country’s bold commitments at COP26 …
Impact Investing | September 13, 2022
Bringing the energy transition to every building and neighborhood, with public and private capital
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 13 – Green jobs in South Los Angeles. Low-carbon retrofits and cost savings in New York public housing. Electric vehicle and battery …
Catalytic Capital | September 12, 2022
The Climate Finance Tracker’s data-driven map for catalytic climate investors (Q&A)
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 12 – Where is capital most impactful in combating climate change? What kind of capital is needed where? And who is …
Photo credit: Teranga Capital
Seeding Impact | August 22, 2022
Teranga Capital: Taking risks to build an impact ecosystem in West Africa
ImpactAlpha, August 22 – Dakar-based Teranga Capital does private equity deals. It deploys venture capital. It helps small businesses that are too early for …
Community Finance | August 18, 2022
Community lenders look to carve out a role for themselves in new green bank fund
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 18 – The Inflation Reduction Act, sprung from the seeming dead just three weeks ago, sprinted into law almost as fast …
photo: Sam Bloxham
Impact Tech | July 21, 2022
Formula E: The hum of electric race cars signals the arrival of the EV era
ImpactAlpha, July 21 – There was no deafening roar of engines as 22 race cars careened along the Brooklyn waterfront last weekend. This …
Climate Finance | July 19, 2022
Early-stage climate tech offers a bright spot amid the gloom
ImpactAlpha, July 19 – U.S. climate policy is in disarray. Venture capital investments are plummeting. The IPO window is shut. And crypto is …
Mansoor Hamayun | Photo credit: Bboxx
Frontier and Growth Markets | July 11, 2022
Off-grid solar pioneer Bboxx is following the data to down-market growth
ImpactAlpha, July 11 – Mansoor Hamayun couldn’t have anticipated the data revolution when he launched Bboxx more than a decade ago. Back then, the …
Institutional Impact | July 7, 2022
The politics and power of asset management lead straight to the U.S. Supreme Court
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 …
Policy Corner | July 5, 2022
Supreme Court’s attack on regulatory policy threatens SEC climate-disclosure rules
ImpactAlpha, July 5 – Fighting climate change just got even harder. But impact investors vowed to redouble their efforts to stave off climate …
photo: Pixabay
Originals | June 27, 2022
Seven Calls: Agents of Impact on carbon pricing, political risk, climate adaptation, responsible fintech and more
ImpactAlpha, June 27 – ImpactAlpha’s spring season of Agents of Impact Calls spanned a period of tumult in the financial markets: instability in …
Frontier and Growth Markets | June 13, 2022
Nyala Venture aims to catalyze local fund managers to unlock capital for small businesses in Africa
ImpactAlpha, June 13 – Who knows best the needs of a community but members of the community itself? First-time fund managers who understand the …
Impact Investing | May 23, 2022
Global corporations commit to carbon removal tech buys in South Pole-led initiative
ImpactAlpha, May 23 – Corporations are teaming up to use their buying power to accelerate commercialization of carbon removal technology. The latest: Boston …