Good Business
April 2019 White Hall JC Photography Christopher Lane
Good Business | November 3, 2020
Q&A: How ESG pioneer Amy Domini is finding impact alpha in ‘sustainable solutions’
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 3 – At an earlier peak of COVID pandemic, Domini Impact Investments launched a mutual fund that looked a little different than …
Clean Energy | September 17, 2020
Aligned closes $1 billion sustainability-linked credit to green data centers
ImpactAlpha, September 17 – Data centers are consuming huge amounts of electricity. Dallas-based Aligned uses energy-efficient cooling systems and has committed to 100% …
2030 Finance | September 8, 2020
Daimler joins Europe’s green bond parade
ImpactAlpha, September 8 – German automaker Daimler has issued a €1 billion ($1.2 billion), 10-year bond to transition to clean cars. Daimler’s bond …
Asia | August 26, 2020
Japan’s Hulic Co. issues bond that punishes for missed environmental impact targets
ImpactAlpha, August 26 – An increasing number of sustainability-linked loans reward companies with lower interest rates if they meet environmental and social milestones …
Entrepreneurship | August 17, 2020
Overcoming obstacles to Navajo entrepreneurship
ImpactAlpha, August 17 – What do Zimbabwe, Central African Republic and Navajo Nation have in common? They’re all ranked among the hardest places …
Dealflow | August 11, 2020
Visa and Alphabet issue more than $6 billion in green bonds
ImpactAlpha, August 11 – The proceeds from Visa’s $500 million green bond issuance are slated for investments in green buildings, renewable energy, water and …
Beats | August 10, 2020
Bringing ESG strategies to private markets to boost value and impact
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 10 – Public market investors increasingly are deploying ESG, or environmental, social and governance, investing strategies to manage risks and opportunities …
Good Business | July 22, 2020
A Native food company’s commitment to social mission attracts investors at last
ImpactAlpha, July 22 – There are impact investments and then there are impact investments. The recent financing of Native American Natural Foods is …
Agrifood Tech | July 15, 2020
Blackstone leads alt-dairy maker Oatly’s $200 million funding round
ImpactAlpha, July 15 – Sweden’s Oatly was an outlier in the 1990s, when soy milk dominated non-dairy milk options. The company’s oat-based milk …
2030 Finance | June 24, 2020
Amazon’s $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund ups the ante
ImpactAlpha, June 24 – Amazon has earmarked $2 billion to invest in “visionary companies whose products and solutions will facilitate the transition to a …
Features | May 19, 2020
Stakeholders stake new claims on corporate cash to finance an inclusive recovery
ImpactAlpha, May, 19 – Buy back this. That’s the increasingly loud message from employees, suppliers, communities and customers – all essential stakeholders in …
Features | May 19, 2020
Beyond Buybacks: 10 ways to put corporate cash to work
ImpactAlpha, May 19 – Even in the new stakeholder economy, suppliers, communities, customers and employees largely still lack the clout to steer the …
Clean Energy | April 27, 2020
Oil company Repsol begins development of first solar farm
ImpactAlpha, April 27 – Spanish oil company Repsol is a ways down the list of global oil and gas majors. But it’s among …
Dealflow | April 8, 2020
Square’s (and Twitter’s) Jack Dorsey commits $1 billion for COVID, girls education and UBI
ImpactAlpha, April 8 – Tech CEO Jack Dorsey said (via tweet) that he would move $1 billion of his Square equity, about 28% …
Beats | January 30, 2020
‘ESG investing’ crosses the chasm from early adopter to early majority. So what?
In the now-classic model of technology adoption, the most difficult step is expanding from aspirational visionaries to hard nosed pragmatists. Innovations that “cross …
Beats | January 21, 2020
Corporate laggards face sustainability’s new leaders at Davos
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 21 – Microsoft is going beyond net-zero to “carbon negative.” Shell’s CEO is admitting the oil giant knew the risks of climate …
Features | January 15, 2020
With indexes and stewardship, BlackRock pledges to retool passive investing for climate action
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 14 – Sustainability, and in particular climate risk, is disrupting asset management. “In the near future, and sooner than most anticipate, …
Beats | January 14, 2020
Global corporations start to capitalize on ‘positive externalities’
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 14 – When it comes to corporations known for responsible business and sustainable practices, Unilever is often cited as one of …
Dealflow | January 13, 2020
Ecovadis inks $200 million investment to rate companies’ supply chain sustainability
ImpactAlpha, January 13 – Corporate operations are the key to sustainable business and to impact investing at scale. Corporations’ approximately $183 billion per …
Social Stock Exchange discussion at Sankalp Global Forum l Photo credit: Shiv Gupta Twitter
Good Business | December 9, 2019
Focus on accountability as India’s social stock exchange takes shape
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 9 – India’s social stock exchange is expected to take the form of an electronic fundraising platform regulated by the Securities and …
2030 Finance | November 27, 2019
Australia’s IIG backs Xceptional with impact-linked loan
ImpactAlpha, November 27 – The twist in the A$600,000 loan (US$407,000) from Impact Investment Group: the more social impact employment startup Xceptional delivers, …
Photo credit: Atharva Tulsi
Good Business | November 25, 2019
Sankalp Global Summit keys in on entrepreneurial solutions to the Global Goals
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 25 – More than 1,100 participants from 20 countries will descend on Mumbai this week for the Sankalp Forum. Now in its …
Beats | November 14, 2019
Institutional Shift: Corporate operations are the front lines of sustainability
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 14 –From Moline, Illinois, John Deere & Co. directs operations in 180 countries and nearly $40 billion a year in revenues. To …
Marines from 6th Communications Battalion, Marine Forces Reserve, marched in the annual New York Veterans Day parade Nov. 11., 2011
Entrepreneurship | November 11, 2019
Veterans build ecosystems for an entrepreneurial revival
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 11 – Veterans have a natural affinity for entrepreneurship. Just ask the founders of Nike, Fed-Ex, WalMart, and USAA. The leadership, team-building, …
2030 Finance | November 5, 2019
Apple pledges $2.5 billion to five Bay Area housing initiatives
ImpactAlpha, November 5 – The gap between the haves and have-nots is widening in the Bay Area, brought on by an influx of …
2030 Finance | October 30, 2019
Creating the new plastics economy
More than 320 million tons of plastic is produced annually, much of which ends up in oceans or landfill. Production is expected to …
Good Business | October 29, 2019
Impact washing in the desert
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 29 – The controversial Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia gets underway today. The secret agenda (until yesterday) of the Saudi …
Features | October 1, 2019
Index Impact: Passive investors are actively tilting stock indexes toward sustainability
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 1 – Most investments in public equities are held in “passive” accounts that keep fees low by tracking standardized indexes such as …
Climate Finance | September 24, 2019
Retooling finance to accelerate the low-carbon transition
New York, NY – You know we’re in trouble when investors and bankers are our best hope for climate action. With many global …
Dealflow | September 23, 2019
Splunk launches venture arm with $50 million impact fund
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 23 – Data-analytics platform Splunk launched a venture investment arm that will include a $50 million “social impact fund.” Splunk Ventures also …
circulareconomy | September 17, 2019
‘Circular economy’ startup Truman’s raises $5 million from Germany’s Henkel.
The six-month old green cleaning product startup raised the seed funds in a round led by Henkel Ventures, the investment arm of the …
Canada | September 16, 2019
After light bulbs and plastic straws…toilet paper
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 16 – Another everyday staple is under scrutiny. “The Issue With Tissue” from environmental watchdog NRDC details the environmental and social harm …
Beats | September 3, 2019
For shareholder engagement on climate, is talk enough?
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 3 – Blackrock and Vanguard voted against shareholder resolutions pressing climate change concerns in the past year at Exxon, Duke Energy, …
Beats | August 29, 2019
Blackstone’s embrace of impact investing brings new scrutiny
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 29 – As legacy private equity firms move into impact investing (see, “For private equity giants, $1 billion is table stakes for …
Good Business | August 29, 2019
Shareholders for Stakeholders: CEOs should safeguard, not silence, engaged investors
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 29 – The Business Roundtable’s statement from 181 CEOs committed to pay employees fairly, protect the environment and foster diversity and inclusion. …
Beats | August 27, 2019
B Corps to CEOs: Get to work
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 26 – CEOs of Ben & Jerry’s, Danone, Sundial Brands, and 30 other certified “B Corps” called in a full-page ad in …
Good Business | August 22, 2019
Corporate accountability is key to the success of ‘stakeholder capitalism’
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 22 – Increasing accountability to employees, customers, suppliers and communities shouldn’t mean decreased accountability to shareholders. Especially when some of those shareholders …
Good Business | August 20, 2019
Stakeholder primacy: CEOs redefine the role of business in society
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 20 – The statement from nearly 200 CEOs redefining ‘corporate purpose’ to include customers, workers, communities and suppliers, along with shareholders, catches …
Young businessman hiding head in the sand
2030 Finance | August 6, 2019
BlackRock’s stranded assets
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 6 – BlackRock owned 5% of PG&E before the California utility collapsed in what the Wall Street Journal called “The first climate-change bankruptcy.” …
Dealflow | July 29, 2019
Moody’s snaps up second ESG data company
ImpactAlpha, July 29 – Credit ratings and research firm Moody’s has acquired a majority stake in climate risk analytics company Four Twenty Seven. Four …
2030 Finance | July 27, 2019
Disrupt or be disrupted: Agent of Impact Erik Schiemann, Distributed Solar Development
One of the few bright spots in GE’s story of value destruction is the spinout of the company’s unit that designs, builds and operates distributed …
2030 Finance | July 25, 2019
Goldman Sachs’ new Sustainable Finance Group charts ESG rise to the C-suite
ImpactAlpha, July 25 – “Two important factors – inclusive growth and climate transition – had become significant drivers of growth, risk, and operational efficiency …
Beats | July 23, 2019
Making ESG matter
ImpactAlpha, July 23 – The goal seems straightforward enough: assess and compare how companies use natural, human and financial capital to provide their …
Beats | July 16, 2019
Forest risk: Losses – and opportunities – mount in corporate supply chains
ImpactAlpha, July 16 – Global corporations including Walmart, Estee Lauder and IKEA are putting their brands and supply chains at risk by failing to …
Dealflow | July 1, 2019
Acumen acquires Civic Accelerator to expand talent push
ImpactAlpha, July 1 – In a transfer among nonprofit impact investing firms, Acumen acquired the team and intellectual property of the “CivicX” social …