Signals
Corporate Impact | March 23, 2023
This season’s shareholder resolutions are proxies in the ESG culture war
ImpactAlpha, March 23 – Votes on climate action, corporate political influence and reproductive rights will liven up this spring’s corporate annual general meetings. …
Image by Freepik
Impact Management | March 21, 2023
Ten outcomes and three levers for investors in racial and economic equity
ImpactAlpha, March 21 — Moral imperative? The threat of economic instability? Or the unrealized economic potential of our nation’s diversity? Whatever their motivations, …
Impact Investing | March 20, 2023
Global Innovation Lab develops new financial models to tackle climate challenges in emerging markets
ImpactAlpha, March 20 – Global finance is not keeping up with the urgent challenge of decarbonizing the economy and helping communities adapt to …
Impact Management | March 20, 2023
Just Capital and Ford Foundation set a research agenda for human capital management
ImpactAlpha, March 20 – As much as 90% of the value of S&P 500 companies comes from “intangible” assets, most importantly talent. Yet …
Impact Investing | March 16, 2023
At these companies, CEOs focus on stakeholders to drive growth
ImpactAlpha, March 16 – Steve McDougal of climate consultants 3Degrees, Scott Jacobs of green infrastructure owner/investor Generate Capital, and Russell Diez-Canseco of organic …
Impact Investing | March 14, 2023
The ImpactAssets 50 – er, 163 – is the biggest and most diverse ever
ImpactAlpha, March 14 – This year’s showcase of impact investment fund managers highlights bigger funds and increasing diversity as well as a focus …
Signals | March 2, 2023
Regeneration and Risk-Taking: Overheard at the Latin American Impact Investing Forum
ImpactAlpha, March 2 – Some 800 agentes de impacto turned out for the forum, known as the FLII, in Mérida, Mexico this week. …
Photo by 2Gether-International.
Signals | February 23, 2023
The impact case for bridging financing gaps for disabled founders
ImpactAlpha, February 23 — Mexican-American paralympic athlete Diego Mariscal, who was born three months premature with cerebral palsy, is out to prove the …
Impact Investing | February 16, 2023
TPG touts strong fundraising – and results – for its climate and impact strategies
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 16 – The $135 billion investment firm, based in San Francisco and Ft. Worth, is the latest publicly listed private-equity giant …
Inclusive Economy | February 9, 2023
Turning the boom in small-business starts into a long-term driver of economic mobility
ImpactAlpha, February 9 — A record 10 million Americans applied to start new businesses over the past two years, as President Biden highlighted …
Signals | February 6, 2023
Four ways impact investors are supporting economic mobility for Black Americans
ImpactAlpha, February 6 — The median Black household in the U.S. has one-tenth the wealth of the median white household. Over the next …
India | February 2, 2023
As India’s impact ventures grow, so does the need for growth-stage impact capital
ImpactAlpha, February 2 – India’s impact investing market has witnessed tremendous growth over the past few years, moving beyond financial inclusion into emerging …
Signals | February 1, 2023
S-curves and tipping points are accelerating the low-carbon future
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 1 – The future of energy is S-shaped. Adoption of technological innovations is typically slow until they hit a tipping point, …
Photo by Forum Mobility.
Climate and Clean Tech | January 18, 2023
Electrifying heavy-duty drayage trucks at California’s ports
ImpactAlpha, January 18 — The approximately 30,000 heavy-duty trucks that transport containers and bulk freight between ships and rail facilities at California’s 40 …
Impact Investing | December 12, 2022
‘Net energy’ breakthrough fuels the race to commercialize fusion power
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 13 – Net energy is the starting line. The race for commercial fusion energy is on. Creating a net energy gain …
Photo credit: Root Capital
Signals | November 15, 2022
Women-led agribusinesses notch greater profits, faster growth and less risk
ImpactAlpha, November 15 – Financing smallholder farmers is difficult work. New data from Root Capital suggests that investing in women delivers the trifecta investors …
Signals | November 9, 2022
It’s Finance Day at COP27: Here’s what’s on tap
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 9 – Developed nations are under pressure to provide more capital to low- and middle-income countries to help them grow sustainably …
ESG | November 8, 2022
Anticipating election wins, conservative politicians escalate attacks on ESG ‘collusion.’
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 8 – Republicans are feeling emboldened as Americans head to the polls for today’s midterm elections. Just days ago, a group …
Source: Shutterstock
Impact Investing | November 5, 2022
Social and environmental crises drive assets to impact – and to ImpactAssets
As the Covid pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement laid bare the vast inequalities and tensions in the US and beyond, impact …
Frontier and Growth Markets | October 24, 2022
To drive more capital to small businesses, invest in local fund managers as entrepreneurs
ImpactAlpha, October 24 – Hundreds of local fund managers are looking to prove that investing in small businesses is a viable and profitable path …
Photo credit: Carmen Correa
Signals | October 24, 2022
Gender lens + climate finance = broader reach
ImpactAlpha, October 24 – Gender-lens investing’s next big thing: integrating gender considerations across climate action and other investment themes. Investors channeled more than $600 …
Photo by New Mexico Nomad.
Place-Based Investing | October 12, 2022
New Mexico taps fixed-income strategy for small business lending
ImpactAlpha, October 12 — A fixed-income strategy that has helped hundreds of low-income, women-led and Native families in New Mexico access housing and …
Impact Management | October 6, 2022
VCs ♥️ ESG
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 6 – Red state politicians are fanning the flames of an anti-ESG backlash. Venture capitalists are embracing environmental, social and governance …
Impact Investing | September 27, 2022
A dozen charts that map the uneven but hopeful path to a carbon-free economy
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 27 – Transitions are rarely a straight line. That is especially true of the massive global shift underway to a low-carbon economy. …
Signals | September 27, 2022
U.K. impact investing nears £8 billion on strong growth
ImpactAlpha, September 27 – The pound is tanking and U.K. energy prices are skyrocketing, but here’s something to be chuffed about: Impact investments in …
a crypto mining "rig"
Blockchain/AI/IoT | September 15, 2022
Ethereum transition points the way to a carbon-free blockchain
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 15 – By the time you read this, energy consumption equivalent to that used annually by Chile and the carbon footprint of Hong …
Climate Finance | September 15, 2022
Investors in India are betting on climate tech’s financial opportunity
ImpactAlpha, September 15 – Climate finance in India surged in 2021, reaching about $20 billion in equity, green bonds and other types of capital. …
Hyderabad, Pakistan in July.
Signals | September 1, 2022
Epic floods in Pakistan highlight gap in climate funding for emerging markets
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 1 – The monsoon-season floods sweeping through Pakistan have killed more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, and created at …
Image credit: Airlift
Frontier and Growth Markets | July 20, 2022
For ‘quick commerce’ startups, the pandemic giveth and taketh away
ImpactAlpha, July 20 – Airlift became a darling of Pakistan’s venture capital scene last year when it raised $85 million in Series B …
Impact Investing | July 18, 2022
Shareholder Engagement is next up on the S.E.C.’s agenda
ImpactAlpha, July 18 – In a 3-2 vote, the Securities and Exchange Commission last week finalized the reversal of two Trump-era rules that …
Signals | July 14, 2022
Is a green transition the cause – or the solution – in Sri Lanka’s crisis?
ImpactAlpha, July 14 – It was an irresistible meme: A crash transition to organic farming tanked Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector and sent the country …
Photo by Israel Andrade on Unsplash
Inclusive Economy | July 5, 2022
Is private equity’s employee ownership plan the real deal?
ImpactAlpha, July 5 — In April, 19 private equity firms committed to providing equity shares to employees at some portfolio firms, as part …
Policy Corner | June 22, 2022
Pricing carbon could succeed where Scope 3 falls short in accounting for emissions
ImpactAlpha, June 22 – As the Securities and Exchange Commission mulls new rules for climate disclosure, investors are weighing in on what could …
photo: World Economic Forum
Impact Investing | May 23, 2022
At elite World Economic Forum, Davos Man and Davos Woman will talk sustainability, inclusion and action
ImpactAlpha, May 23 – It’s back. As the world’s corporate and government movers and shakers gather at Davos after a two-year pandemic pause, …
Catalytic Capital | May 12, 2022
Small ‘non-banks’ get creative to bring financial services to India’s most vulnerable populations
ImpactAlpha, May 12 – Financial inclusion is the hottest sector for venture capital in emerging markets. Businesses in the sector are delivering credit …
Motorists line up to wait for fuel in Nairobi | Photo credit: Abraham Namiti
Frontier and Growth Markets | May 9, 2022
High fuel prices spur Africa’s transition to electric mobility
ImpactAlpha, May 9 – Long lines at Nairobi’s gas pumps last month put the spotlight on rising prices and fuel shortages caused by …
Frontier and Growth Markets | April 27, 2022
Energy access and financial inclusion ride Africa’s swell of private capital
ImpactAlpha, April 27 – The bad news: The COVID-19 pandemic reversed progress in Africa toward Sustainable Development Goals. The good news: Much of …
Impact Investing | April 27, 2022
Japan’s impact investing sector more than doubles to $10.3 billion
ImpactAlpha, April 27 – Impact assets under management surged to 1,320.4 billion yen, or $10.3 billion. That’s a 2.5X increase from 2020’s 512 …
Climate and Clean Tech | April 25, 2022
Elon Musk’s $100 million XPRIZE awards $15 million to scale carbon removal
ImpactAlpha, April 25 – The 15 “milestone” winners from nine countries each were awarded $1 million to scale up carbon removal solutions with …
Impact Investing | April 19, 2022
Japan’s EX-Fusion raises $1 million to advance laser-based fusion
ImpactAlpha, April 19 – Well-funded startups around the globe are racing to commercialize nuclear fusion, which has the potential to generate large-scale, safe, …
Signals | April 4, 2022
Build back, don’t buy back, Biden tells corporations in his budget blueprint
ImpactAlpha, April 4 – Stock buybacks are back. In the early days of the COVID disruption, it looked as if corporations might be …
Photo credit: LeapFrog Investments.
Signals | March 31, 2022
LeapFrog’s ‘launchpad’ helps companies serve low-income consumers in emerging markets
ImpactAlpha, March 31 — The challenges of delivering essential products and services to customers in low-income and rural areas has kept many companies …
Image credit: Ninety One
Frontier and Growth Markets | March 21, 2022
Commercial capital floods into India’s impact startups
ImpactAlpha, March 21 – Venture capital investing in India, as elsewhere, surged last year, along with a wave of impact capital. Impact startups …
Medellin, Colombia
Signals | March 7, 2022
Creci debuts with aim of mainstreaming impact investing
ImpactAlpha, March 7 – Everyday investors have a new impact investing option. Delaware-based Creci recently launched to support impact-focused small and mid-sized companies …
Climate Finance | February 1, 2022
Deployment, deployment, deployment is the rallying cry as climate finance closes in on $1 trillion
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 1 – Venture investments in climate tech grab the headlines. Spending for energy transition deployment by corporations, government and households is …