intelligence
2030 Finance | April 8, 2017
Disrupted: Investors forced to confront how, and when, to play climate
Climate Finance Climate disruption is moving faster than most people realize, and “the responses are going to move much faster as well,” Jeremy …
africa | April 8, 2017
African renewable-energy supply could surpass demand by 2030
2030 Just 37% of people in Africa had access to electricity in 2014, with the vast majority living in rural areas. Demand is …
dfid | April 7, 2017
IDEO wants to increase opportunities for people living with disabilities
About a billion people around the world live with disabilities, and a disproportionate number live in poverty. They also face limited access to …
Conservation | April 7, 2017
What will business look like in the resource-scarce future?
2030 Projections about the billions of people set to join the global middle class by 2030 (it’s three billion) are often linked to …
Beats | April 6, 2017
Convergence launches investor network to ease SDG investing
Convergence launches investor network to ease SDG investing Canadian nonprofit Convergence launched its long-awaited Investment Network this morning, promising to link private, public, …
affordable-housing | April 6, 2017
Bon Jovi, Chris Paul, Eva Longoria bring attention to affordable housing
Investments in affordable housing are generally pretty dry, or even boring. A recent wave of celebrity investors in affordable housing may help raise the …
calvert-foundation | April 6, 2017
Arts and culture are ready for investors, say Calvert Foundation and Upstart Co-Lab
Arts and culture are ready for investors. According to a new report, the creative economy is more than $704 billion in the U.S. …
2030 Finance | April 4, 2017
South-to-south finance on the rise
Climate Finance India’s ambitious energy plans don’t stop at its own borders. The Asian country is investing heavily in African energy expansion as well. …
Climate Finance | April 4, 2017
What cities of the future can learn from their older peers
2030 Masdar in the United Arab Emirates was conceived a decade ago as a zero-carbon city in a region otherwise dependent on fossil …
Beats | April 4, 2017
Fact-check tech is a thing, as startups tap the value of accurate information
From viral email and fake news to government propaganda, online media has a credibility problem. Which means fact-check tech is taking its place …
Gender Smart | March 31, 2017
Hong Kong’s RS Group charts a path to a 100% impact portfolio
Women Rising Annie Chen founded RS Group in 2008 as a family office for her personal wealth. A deep dive from Asian Venture …
Climate Finance | March 31, 2017
Architecture 2030 seeks to make buildings part of the solution, not the problem
2030 Buildings consume nearly half of all the energy produced in the United States and are responsible for half of its carbon emission. …
Beats | March 30, 2017
Social impact is a tangible return on investment
The social impacts of our investments “have a much more profound impact on the majority of savers” than the returns a financial manager …
Climate Finance | March 30, 2017
How close is the permanent climate catastrophe?
2030 Climate in the near-equatorial, impoverished and low-carbon emitting tropics could permanently depart the bound of historic variability as soon as 2020. For …
2030 Finance | March 29, 2017
ExxonMobil to Trump: Don’t pull U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement
Climate Change Even as President Trump dismantled Obama-era efforts to tackle climate change, the U.S.’s largest oil company is trying to save the …
Beats | March 29, 2017
Wanted: Long-term thinking in global definition of ‘fiduciary duty’
Current rules drive short-term profit-maximization and undervalue longer-term and macroeconomic risks. Mark Wilson, CEO of Aviva, the UK insurance giant, called on the …
Climate Finance | March 29, 2017
Can India get to 100 percent in electric vehicles by 2030?
Well, they’re working on a plan. The first phase of the program provides incentives for electric and hybrid bikes and cars. The next phase …
2030 Finance | March 29, 2017
Can rollup of Mexican energy-efficiency projects jumpstart green bonds in Latin America?
Climate Finance One region is lagging the global green bond boom: Latin America. Following a $204 million bond for a Peruvian wind farmer in …
Africa | March 29, 2017
Famine in East Africa sounds the alarm for a new approach to food security
International aid organizations are warning that more than 16 million people face hunger in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan. Nigeria and Yemen …
Innovative Finance | March 28, 2017
Fintech startups compete in the growing Middle East market
The small financial technology, or fintech, sector in the Middle East is expected to grow from about 100 startups in 2015 to as …
Education Tech | March 28, 2017
A sustainable global population in 2100 may depend on girls’ education
Women Rising The Malthusian apocalypse predicted in 1968’s Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich came and went. There is broad consensus that world population …
2030 Finance | March 24, 2017
Turning old coal mines into hydroelectric batteries
Climate Finance Elon Musk isn’t the only one with clever ideas for energy storage. A half-century old coal mine in the North-Rhine Westphalia state …
2030 Finance | March 24, 2017
Boring conservation finance products get investors excited
Climate Finance Fund managers and investment advisors are increasingly attracted to the stable yields from investments in sustainable agriculture, forestry and water. “Capital markets …
Good Jobs | March 24, 2017
Artificial intelligence may create jobs as well as destroy them
In the near-term, AI will likely augment human workers, rather than replace them, taking over tasks rather than jobs themselves. Still, whole categories …
intelligence | March 24, 2017
Where the American Dream lives on
“Prosperous rural areas predominantly in the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains are the country’s most powerful areas of upward mobility,” according to the …
Beats | March 24, 2017
More tools for ‘SDG investing’
The Netherlands is becoming a leader in the movement toward investing around the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (see “European Pension Funds Tilt Capital …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | March 24, 2017
Healthcare is “so complicated,” even for artificial intelligence
AI’s potential in healthcare is curbed by a maze of policy, regulation, and importantly, concerns for patient privacy. “The current healthcare delivery system …
2030 Finance | March 22, 2017
Climate action under the Paris Agreement is an economic gain, not drain
Climate Finance As the Trump administration effectively pulls back from the global climate accord, a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency …
Europe | March 22, 2017
Dutch go into space to help farmers on Earth
Drones have been helping farmers map their land, identify pest invasions and detect crop stress for several years. Now, the Netherlands is taking …
Beats | March 22, 2017
Can artificial intelligence help Johnny learn?
“Quality education will always require active engagement by human teacher,” write researchers from the Stanford One Hundred Study on Artificial Intelligence. But artificial …
2030 Finance | March 21, 2017
Global growth appears to be decoupling from carbon emissions
Climate Finance Cuts by the U.S. and China emission helped keep global carbon dioxide emissions steady for the third straight year. The world’s two …
Industry News | March 21, 2017
Qatar Stock Exchange brings sustainable investment forum to the Middle East
Qatar Stock Exchange is bringing a sustainable investment forum to the Middle East. The regional forum is backed by eight participating countries in the …
intelligence | March 21, 2017
Underserved communities: Leveraging AI to improve health and social services in low-resource areas
AI see, AI do. Among the risks in using data-driven AI in low-resource or at-risk communities is that the algorithms will magnify systemic biases. “Care …
Beats | March 21, 2017
International Development Meets Impact Investing at Armenia Summit
Global development practitioners are gathering at the Impact Investment for Development Summit in Yerevan, Armenia to explore opportunities and mechanisms to promote impact …
intelligence | March 20, 2017
Budget Watch: Trump seeks to gut CDFI Fund that boosts investment in low-income communities
Taking the president’s “America First” budget as an expression of Trump’s priorities, it seems poor urban and rural communities don’t rank very high. The …
2030 Finance | March 20, 2017
The future of large-scale battery storage deployments may have arrived
Climate Finance When Elon Musk promised to deliver 100-megawatts of battery power-storage in 100 days to South Australia — via Twitter — he disclosed for the first …
Good Jobs | March 20, 2017
Airbnb attracts new hosts eager to house refugees
A year and half ago, Airbnb enlisted refugee housing guru Cameron Sinclair to help the company connect some of the world’s 65 million …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | March 20, 2017
Transportation: How AI could transform a North American city by 2030
Most of the buzz around self-driving cars focuses on the decrease or elimination of road accidents and fatalities. But autonomous vehicles will offer …
Africa | March 17, 2017
Tanzania emerges as a hub of African entrepreneurial success
Women Rising Tanzania is emerging as a hub of African entrepreneurial success. The East African country is often overshadowed by the continent’s other …
Beats | March 17, 2017
‘Warren Buffett has some excellent advice for foundations that they probably won’t take’
Warren Buffett’s advice to stick with low-cost index funds rather than high-fee money managers makes sense for philanthropies as well. “America’s foundations are taking …
Beats | March 17, 2017
Overheard at the Near Future Summit
ImpactAlpha’s Zuleyma Bebell joined Kimbal Musk, comedian/activist Fran Drescher and the folks from Obvious Ventures this week at the Near Future Summit, the …
Climate Finance | March 17, 2017
Wind farming could give U.S. farmers a $900 million annual boost by 2030
Climate Finance Wind is the fastest growing source of electricity in the U.S. and 70 percent of windfarms are being built in low-income, …
Beats | March 16, 2017
Leapfrog’s portfolio reached 91 million people and grew revenues and profits in 2016
Andrew Kuper, CEO of Leapfrog Investments, has taken impact investors to task for not being ambitious enough about transformative social impact for hundreds …
2030 Finance | March 16, 2017
BlackRock asks companies to report climate risks
Climate Finance BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, put corporate boards on notice that it expects them “to have demonstrable fluency in how …
2030 Finance | March 16, 2017
Lenders seek to green the shipping industry with promise of savings
Climate Finance Ships, which carry 90 percent of global trade, are heavy polluters. The 15 biggest vessels emit more nitrogen and sulphur than …