supply-and-demand
Beats | February 16, 2017
Demand for organic products boom, but supply lags
Last year’s 11 percent increase in organic farmland in the U.S. sounds like a big win for sustainable agriculture. Except it isn’t. Of the …
- Beats
- The Brief
September 21, 2023
The Brief
Featured: Climate Action
In the Climate Week mix: Policy tailwinds, green banks, talent pipeline. Hard choices have to be made… about which of the hundreds of Climate Week NYC events to attend. As the rain gave way to sunny skies, so did the gloomy outlook from the United Nations and its less-than-ambitious Climate Ambition Summit. The brighter outlook was palpable all over town among the entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and experts chomping at the bit to drive the zero-carbon transition.
Dealflow: Climate Tech
European Investment Fund plugs €40 million into Blume Equity. Blume is one of a small number of climate tech venture funds with all female founders. The firm invests in growth-stage companies in Europe supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy, such as carbon accounting venture Normative, which helps large companies account for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and Aerones, which makes robotics for wind turbine maintenance. EIF backed Blume as part of its commitment to direct a quarter of its investments to climate and environment-related projects. It joins Swedish pension fund AP4, Visa Foundation, and Impact Engine as an investor in Blume.
Signals: Impact Management
Messiness, mutuality and methodology: Three tips for measuring impact. The impact investing advisory firm Candide has moved more than $200 million into 110 social justice-focused companies, funds and other organizations. Its investments include ventures like Totem and Solar Holler and managers like Impact America Fund and Mac Venture Capital. What was the actual impact of those impact investments? Candide’s Jasmine Rashid and team spent the last two years seeking answers to that question for the firm’s first public impact report. In a guest post for ImpactAlpha, Rashid shares tips for designing meaningful impact measurement processes “that serve all stakeholders – not just those providing financial capital.” Among them:
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Agents of Impact are remembering and paying tribute to catalyst-at-large Suzanne Biegel, who passed away yesterday. A champion of gender-lens investing and founder of GenderSmart (now part of 2X Global) Biegel created a legacy project, Heading for Change, with her husband, Daniel Maskit (for background see, "With climate + gender fund, Suzanne Biegel is heading for change").
- The Call
Podcasts | August 25, 2023
Mobilizing capital in Indian Country (video)
ImpactAlpha, August 25 – A growing ecosystem of Native-led entrepreneurs, lenders, financial intermediaries and nonprofits are driving Indian Country’s emerging economy. “It’s kind …
Participants in ImpactAlpha's call on HBCUsReturn on Inclusion | July 28, 2023
Impact at HBCUs: Hubs of talent, innovation and Black excellence (video)
ImpactAlpha, July 28 – Most historically Black colleges and universities were formed during the Reconstruction era. In the more than a century since, Spelman, …
Muni Impact | June 22, 2023
Connecting supply and demand for racial equity strategies in muni markets (video)
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 22 – Even as some politicians ramp up anti-ESG rhetoric, asset owners and allocators are signaling an appetite for investment strategies …
Call Recording | March 31, 2023
Metrics Madness: Wealth, ownership and ‘quality adjusted life years’ (video)
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 31 – The search for a universal metric to guide investments in racial justice and equitable wealth-building was…aspirational. “We are still a …
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 …
Memphis skylineMuni Impact | February 9, 2023
Engaging racial-equity risks and opportunities in municipal finance (video)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 9 – The fatal beating by police of Tyre Nichols in Memphis last month exposed risks to the city’s finances that have …
Photo by Tamarcus Brown on UnsplashMuni Impact | November 18, 2022
Mispriced risks, investor demand and community power center racial equity in municipal bonds (video)
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 18 – Cities around the U.S. are raising low-cost capital in the municipal bond markets by highlighting intentional efforts to address long-standing …
Call Recording | September 30, 2022
Agents of Impact Call No. 45: Creative capital for gender-smart investments (video)
ImpactAlpha, September 30 – Capital to support women’s economic growth and financial inclusion is flowing – finally! – in many advanced economies. In emerging …
Climate Finance | September 19, 2022
New momentum and stubborn challenges as Climate Week kicks off (Call No. 44)
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 19 – Investors, entrepreneurs, corporate executives and world leaders have descended on New York for Climate Week, the annual gathering alongside the …
photo: PixabayOriginals | 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 …
Call Recording | June 3, 2022
Call No. 43: How responsible fintech in Africa provides resilience in a downturn (video)
ImpactAlpha, June 3 – Just as investment in financial inclusion in Africa was really ramping up, a market downturn threatens to slow progress. Or …
Impact Investing | May 13, 2022
Call No. 42: Business financing beyond venture capital to fuel the boom in entrepreneurship (video)
ImpactAlpha, May 13 – One defining outcome of the pandemic: a boom in entrepreneurship. A record five million businesses were started in the …
- Podcasts
Podcasts | September 15, 2023
Looking ahead to Climate Week NYC
🎧 Impact Briefing. Host Brian Walsh chats with Amy Cortese to set the stage for the UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC. …
Podcasts | September 8, 2023
Revamped SOCAP seeks radical ideas and scaled solutions
David Bank catches up with Robert Munson, President of SOCAP and Managing director at the Sorenson Impact Center, who is putting together next …
Podcasts | September 1, 2023
Democratizing gender lens investing in Latin America
Pro Mujer’s Carmen Correa joins host Monique Aiken to share how the pioneering Latin American microfinance institution’s bonds are democratizing gender lens investing …
Podcasts | August 25, 2023
Mobilizing capital in Indian Country (video)
ImpactAlpha, August 25 – A growing ecosystem of Native-led entrepreneurs, lenders, financial intermediaries and nonprofits are driving Indian Country’s emerging economy. “It’s kind …
Podcasts | August 18, 2023
Responding to legal attacks on affirmative action and racial wealth-building strategies
Paris Prince of the Intentional Endowments Network joins host Monique Aiken to talk about how impact investors are responding to legal attacks on …
Podcasts | July 28, 2023
Cash flows to ensure the water flows in Latin America
Quito, Ecuador, is more than 9,000 feet above sea level. But even higher than the city are Andean wetlands that filter, store and …
Podcasts | July 21, 2023
Acre Africa: Insuring farmers against crop failures and climate change
David Bank chats with Acre Africa’s Niza Banda in the next conversation from the recent “Connecting capital to communities” gathering at the Salzburg …
Impact Investing | July 14, 2023
Putting Africa’s pension funds to work for Africa’s social infrastructure
Drawing Africa’s pension funds deeper into impact investing is one of the goals of this week’s Africa Impact Summit in Cape Town, South …
Impact Investing | July 7, 2023
Empowa: Affordable housing for Mozambique’s informal economy
David Bank chats with Empowa’s Glen Jordan in the next conversation from the recent “Connecting Capital to Communities” gathering at the Salzburg Global …
Agrifood Tech | July 1, 2023
Connecting Indian farmers to global markets
David Bank chats with FarMart’s Samridhi Singh in the next conversation in our series from the recent Salzburg Global Seminar on “Connecting Capital …
Podcasts | June 30, 2023
Connecting Indian farmers to global markets
David Bank chats with FarMart’s Samridhi Singh in the next conversation in our series from the recent Salzburg Global Seminar on “Connecting Capital …
Podcasts | June 23, 2023
A century old model for affordable social housing with Michaela Kauer
David Bank catches up with Michaela Kauer of the city of Vienna to talk about that city’s model of social, affordable housing. Plus, …
- Opinion
Impact Management | September 21, 2023
Messiness, Mutuality and Methodology: Three tips for measuring impact
Note: This is an abridged version for ImpactAlpha. For all 10 tips, please visit this article on Medium.com. At the end of 2022, …
Mangrove forest restoration on Pate Island, Kenya | Photo credit: Thomson Reuters Foundation / Dominic KiruiClimate Finance | September 19, 2023
Nature-based solutions may be the key to meeting Paris climate goals
As world leaders gather in New York City this week for the UN General Assembly and New York Climate Week, investors and funders …
Africa | September 13, 2023
How Africa’s pension funds are financing the continent’s infrastructure gap
African countries have huge infrastructure needs, and governments need private investment to help meet them, particularly considering increasing climate impacts and green development …
Green Infrastructure | September 13, 2023
Financing power transmission—not just generation—to meet Africa’s climate goals
Renewable energy generation and storage opportunities were a key focus at last week’s Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, culminating in $26 billion in new …
Impact Voices | September 12, 2023
How foundations can use impact investments to leverage their grant capital
Impact investing offers the promise of greater impact per dollar as funds are returned and recycled into new investments that generate new impact. …
Raising ProfitsOwnership Economy | September 6, 2023
Challenging wealth supremacy to realize the dream of systemic change
This essay is adapted from Marjorie Kelly’s forthcoming book, “Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s …
Impact Management | August 31, 2023
Is Europe’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation delivering on its promise?
The European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, known as SFDR, is making waves in the investment industry. The legislative measure, introduced in 2019, …
Photo credit: Upaya Social VenturesImpact Voices | August 31, 2023
Collaborating to create more dignified jobs in a warming world
The temperature was over 110 degrees Fahrenheit the day I met Roopa, a widowed mother of three, on her tiny plot of land …
Impact Management | July 27, 2023
How three impact investors engage their most important stakeholders to validate impact
An increasingly important question for impact investors is how to validate that their investments are having the intended impact on people or the …
Agrifood Tech | July 20, 2023
A bigger helping of catalytic grant capital can fuel new solutions to food waste
Over the last few years, the main story around U.S. food waste funding has been that private capital has started to pay attention and invest …
Corporate Impact | July 17, 2023
Flex of worker power raises the stakes for quality jobs
Investors focused on societal impact are often concerned with corporate treatment of workers. To assess job quality performance across a portfolio, they generally …
Catalytic Capital | July 13, 2023
5 tips for attracting catalytic capital from wealthy individuals and family offices
There is untapped capacity and enthusiasm for catalytic capital by “high net wealth individuals” (HNIs) and family offices. TONIIC recently surveyed more than …
- Agents of Impact
Christopher Bentley | Photo by The De-Carceration Fund.
Agents of Impact | September 8, 2023
Christopher Bentley, The De-Carceration Fund: Lifting ‘justice tech’ entrepreneurs
ImpactAlpha, September 8 — In 15 years in impact investing, Christopher Bentley noticed “a lot of for-profit companies focused on the criminal justice …
Agents of Impact | August 18, 2023
Monica Brand Engel, Quona Capital: Taking on the messy work of financial inclusion
ImpactAlpha, August 18 – Monica Brand Engel’s advice to impact investors is this: Imperfect execution is ok. “Authentic impact is about accepting imperfection …
Samuel Yeboah of Mirepa Investment AdvisorsAgents of Impact | August 11, 2023
Samuel Yeboah, Mirepa Investment Advisors: Helping Africans invest in Africa
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 11 – Samuel Yeboah isn’t discouraged by the economic storm battering his home country of Ghana and many other emerging economies. “As …
Impact Investing | July 14, 2023
Amy Duffuor, Azolla Ventures: Bridging climate gaps with catalytic capital
Many investors look at promising new climate solutions and say, ‘Great, come back to me when you have traction.’ Azolla Ventures is more …
Katherine Stodulka (foreground) with Mark Swilling of the University of Stellenbosch, Colombian Minister of the Environment Maria Susana Muhamad, and climate justice researcher Nina CallaghanAgents of Impact | June 30, 2023
Katherine Stodulka, Systemiq: Making introductions to bridge gaps in sustainable finance
ImpactAlpha, June 30 – The first thing that Katherine Stodulka does when you meet her is suggest you meet someone else. Then she’ll …
Agents of Impact | May 26, 2023
Jessica Espinoza, 2X Global: Proving gender as a value-driver
ImpactAlpha, May 26 – A decade ago, investors pushed back against the loan products Jessica Espinoza was designing for female business owners as …
Agents of Impact | May 12, 2023
Aina Abiodun, VertueLab: Centering community in climate tech in the Pacific Northwest
ImpactAlpha, May 12 – Nigeria-born climate entrepreneur and “professional nomad” Aina Abiodun is bullish on place-based climate innovation. “There is nothing more urgent than …
Agents of Impact | May 5, 2023
John Moore, ImpactPHL: Stocking the pipeline of impact investments in Philadelphia
ImpactAlpha, May 5 – John Moore quit his corporate gig and moved to Philadelphia two decades ago. He found a city rich in …
Agents of Impact | April 28, 2023
Su Sanni, Dollaride: From dollar-van commuter to urban-mobility entrepreneur
ImpactAlpha, April 28 — A first generation Nigerian-American, Su Sanni grew up in East New York, Brooklyn and Jamaica, Queens. The low-income neighborhoods, …
Lourdes Germán | Photo credit: Public Finance InitiativeAgents of Impact | April 21, 2023
Lourdes Germán, Public Finance Initiative: Tilting the $4 trillion muni market toward racial equity
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 21 – Attorney and academic Lourdes Germán recognized early the power of public finance. She has spent years working at firms including …
Podcasts | April 14, 2023
Ariane Mahler, Veridien Global Investors: Going beyond ‘net-zero’ in public markets
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 14 – “Net zero is not going to get us anywhere,” Ariane Mahler of Veridien Global Investors tells ImpactAlpha’s David Bank. “You …
Impact Investing | March 24, 2023
Mindy Lubber, Ceres: Making the business case for responsible investing
ImpactAlpha, March 24 – Hundreds of companies and investors this week urged policymakers to protect their “freedom to invest responsibly,” marking a new …
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