February 11, 2022 | Podcasts

Carbon Crypto, Carbon Markets, and Carbon Quantitative Easing.

ImpactAlpha Editor

Isaac Silk

🎧 Impact Briefing. ImpactAlpha’sDavid Bank joins host Brian Walsh to round up the takeaways from this week’s Agents of Impact Call No. 37 on the rising price of carbon (see below) and share highlights from CDP’s Paula DiPerna, General Atlantic’s Emmanuel Lagarrigue, Estabrook Carbon’s Edwin Datson and Regen Network’s Gregory Landua. Delton Chen articulates the case for a Global Carbon Reward. Plus, the headlines.

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ImpactAlpha Editor

Isaac Silk

March 23, 2023

The Brief

Featured: Shareholder Engagement

This season’s shareholder resolutions are proxies in the ESG culture war. Votes on climate action, corporate political influence and reproductive rights will liven up this spring’s corporate annual general meetings. And this year, the reflexive management opposition to such shareholder proposals is compounded by a coordinated outside attack on environmental, social and governance investing. Utah’s state treasurer has called ESG part of “Satan’s plan,” and 18 states, led by Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, formed an alliance to combat “the pernicious effects of the ESG regime.” This week, President Biden vetoed a bill that would have repealed a Department of Labor rule allowing pension fund managers to consider ESG factors. “A small band of well-funded zealots is trying to inject politics and a ‘culture war’ into basic business,” As You Sow's Andy Behar said in the shareholder advocacy group’s annual proxy preview. “The capital markets work best when shareholders and corporate executives make their own investment and business decisions.”

Dealflow: Regenerative Agriculture

Pepsico commits $216 million to three organizations fostering regenerative agriculture in the U.S. The $80 billion food and beverage giant has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 and to support the conversion of seven million acres of farmland to regenerative practices. “Regenerative agriculture is a powerful approach to address climate change," PepsiCo’s Margaret Henry told ImpactAlpha in an email. Pepsico is investing in three organizations in the U.S. to achieve nearly half of its regenerative ag goal. The company called it a strategic business investment that “is essential to supporting the U.S. farming community as it makes changes that aim to secure production volumes and mitigate the impacts of climate change.”

Signals: World Water Day

Putting a ‘price on water’ and other opportunities to address the H2O crisis. In financial markets, water is becoming the new carbon. From early-stage startups and corporate supply chains, to public policy and municipal bond markets, water risks and opportunities are increasingly on the radar of investors. In New York, at the U.N.’s first dedicated water conference in 50 years, global leaders this week are hammering out a water action agenda of voluntary commitments, pledges and actions. “We can build resilient societies and economies,” said Stuart Orr of World Wildlife Fund, “if governments and businesses urgently pursue policies, practices and investments that recognize – and restore – the full value of healthy rivers, lakes and wetlands.”

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Harold Pettigrew Jr., ex- of the Washington Area Community Investment Fund, will become president and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network… Catherine Dun Rappaport, ex- of BlueHub Capital, joins Social Finance as vice president of impact advisory. Stephen Vicinelli, ex- of TIFF Investment Management, joins Social Finance as vice president of impact investments.

Read today's brief