AI’s killer app: Guiding humanity through the climate challenge. The power of artificial intelligence (as well as its potentially massive energy consumption and carbon emissions) has been the talk of the COP28 global climate summit underway in Dubai. The US is leading an effort “to put AI for climate literally into the text of the outcomes here at this COP,” US deputy climate envoy Rick Duke said in a panel discussion. Calling Sam Altman: By applying AI to meet the greatest existential threat facing humanity, AI can absolve itself of itself being the greatest existential threat to humanity. In other words, ask not what artificial intelligence can do for the climate, ask what the climate challenge can do for AI.
The Russell Family Foundation offers up $3.5 million for sustainable food, energy and infrastructure. The largest chunk of funding was a $2.3 million mission-aligned investment in Timberland Investment Group, an investment division of Brazilian bank BTG Pactual that manages more than three million acres of timberland in the US and Latin America. TIG is working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy to establish science-based climate and conservation targets for the US portion of its $5.7 billion timber portfolio. It's also working with Conservation International on a $1 billion, five-year investment strategy for forest protection and restoration in Latin America.
ESG and FTX: How VCs can invest more responsibility in crypto this time around. This crypto rally can be different. Crypto’s rise, then fall, then recent rise again, presents an opportunity for venture capitalists to invest more responsibly this time. FTX, which collapsed earlier this year, was deemed "a case study in bad governance." While consideration of environmental, social and governance factors has penetrated other financial and investment sectors, crypto investors have largely ignored such risk factors. “Signs of a shift are emerging in public markets,” write Cessiah Lopez and Johannes Lenhard in the latest contribution from VentureESG.
👋 Next Week’s Call: How to spot overlooked impact and risk in municipal bonds. On the next Call in ImpactAlpha’s Muni Impact series, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, learn how to spot rampant mispricing of racial and climate risk – and overlooked opportunities for impact – in the municipal bond market. Join Activest’s Homero Radway, Kestrel’s Monica Reid, R. Paul Herman of HIP Investor, Court Street Group’s Matt Posner and other Agents of Impact, Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP today.
ImpactAlpha, November 17 – That women are more adversely affected by climate change is well established (in impact and development circles at any …
This week’s Agents of Impact Call continued a tradition started nearly a decade ago by Fran Seegull of the US Impact Investing Alliance …
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 29 – It’s the age-old struggle: labor vs capital, workers vs. owners. But what happens when employees get a stake in the …
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 …
ImpactAlpha, July 28 – Most historically Black colleges and universities were formed during the Reconstruction era. In the more than a century since, Spelman, …
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 22 – Even as some politicians ramp up anti-ESG rhetoric, asset owners and allocators are signaling an appetite for investment strategies …
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 …
ImpactAlpha. Feb. 24 – “A labor market where workers have more opportunities and have more power and have more leverage is a good …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 9 – The fatal beating by police of Tyre Nichols in Memphis last month exposed risks to the city’s finances that have …
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 …
ImpactAlpha, September 30 – Capital to support women’s economic growth and financial inclusion is flowing – finally! – in many advanced economies. In emerging …
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 19 – Investors, entrepreneurs, corporate executives and world leaders have descended on New York for Climate Week, the annual gathering alongside the …
Private foundations collectively control more than a trillion dollars of capital invested across a variety of traditional asset classes. A small portion of …
ImpactAlpha’s Amy Cortese speaks with Full Cycle’s Stephan Nicoleau at the start of COP 28 to hear what he’s expecting – and hoping …
Pension funds, with hundreds of billions in long-term assets, can be a key source of capital for impact investors and entrepreneurs. Black, Indigenous, …
The Wilmington coup of 1898 is not as well known as the Tulsa massacre of 1921. But the events of that day changed …
ImpactAlpha’s Dennis Price catches up with María Hollan, a second-generation steward of her family’s assets at Timke Ventures in Mexico City. Hollan was …
David Bank catches up with Courageous Capital Advisors’ Laurie Spengler to talk about what the mainstreaming of impact investing means for smaller impact …
Graham Singh shares the financing mechanisms that Trinity Centres Foundation is developing for repurposing churches. And, David Bank shares ImpactAlpha’s big news. Plus, …
Unicef USA’s Cristina Shapiro joins David Bank to introduce child-lens investing, a framework for considering investment harms and benefits to children, who have …
Roraj Pradhananga and Jane Swan of Veris Wealth Partners join host Monique Aiken to discuss how the wealth manager is rethinking due diligence …
Host Brian Walsh shares highlights from this week’s agents of impact call, “The employee-ownership edge,” which explored the range of opportunities for investing …
David Bank is joined by Marjorie Kelly of The Democracy Collaborative to explore the ways that impact investors both help and hinder systemic …
🎧 Impact Briefing. Host Brian Walsh chats with Amy Cortese to set the stage for the UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC. …
This crypto rally can be different. Crypto’s rise, then fall, then recent rise again, presents an opportunity for venture capitalists to invest more …
Editor’s Note: Community Finance Brief is weekly newsletter from Matt Posner of Court Street Group, now syndicated on ImpactAlpha. When a town, city …
Institutional investors – aka, Limited Partners, or LPs – are increasingly integrating sustainability into their investment processes for private markets. That requires managing …
The backlash against investing for racial equity has only grown since last summer’s Supreme Court ruling that struck down the use of race …
An expanding range of financing mechanisms and vehicles are emerging to help private capital providers direct money and resources to their small business …
As the private sector has become increasingly engaged in the effort to combat climate change, debates have emerged about the impact and legality …
The private equity industry, known for its focus on efficiency improvements and earnings growth, has expanded dramatically in the past decade, tripling assets …
There is an urgent race to curb rising temperatures and prevent the worst effects of climate change. This is reflected in a growing …
The impact-first philosophy that Ceniarth has championed has had its fair share of challenges. But we remain convinced that it is critical to …
Private equity has a significant opportunity to create financial and societal value through sustainability. PE firms that invest in improving the management and …
Climate tech investment is booming. Since 2013, there have been more than 6,000 investors (private, public and philanthropic) in climate tech startups, and …
When UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak watered down the UK’s commitment to its Net Zero targets earlier this fall, he at least started …
Sustainable development? “More of the same.” Forest carbon credits? “Outside-imposed extraction.” Impact investing? “Are we really going far enough? Or are we just …
ImpactAlpha, September 8 — In 15 years in impact investing, Christopher Bentley noticed “a lot of for-profit companies focused on the criminal justice …
ImpactAlpha, August 18 – Monica Brand Engel’s advice to impact investors is this: Imperfect execution is ok. “Authentic impact is about accepting imperfection …
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 11 – Samuel Yeboah isn’t discouraged by the economic storm battering his home country of Ghana and many other emerging economies. “As …
Many investors look at promising new climate solutions and say, ‘Great, come back to me when you have traction.’ Azolla Ventures is more …
ImpactAlpha, June 30 – The first thing that Katherine Stodulka does when you meet her is suggest you meet someone else. Then she’ll …
ImpactAlpha, May 26 – A decade ago, investors pushed back against the loan products Jessica Espinoza was designing for female business owners as …
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 …
ImpactAlpha, May 5 – John Moore quit his corporate gig and moved to Philadelphia two decades ago. He found a city rich in …
ImpactAlpha, April 28 — A first generation Nigerian-American, Su Sanni grew up in East New York, Brooklyn and Jamaica, Queens. The low-income neighborhoods, …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 21 – Attorney and academic Lourdes Germán recognized early the power of public finance. She has spent years working at firms including …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 14 – “Net zero is not going to get us anywhere,” Ariane Mahler of Veridien Global Investors tells ImpactAlpha’s David Bank. “You …
States face significant shortages of skilled nurses.
Austin-based Diligent is building robots to handle menial hospital tasks and “help nurses make full use of their specialized skills,” says Diligent Robotics’s Andrea Thomaz.
A pilot project will focus on acute care patients. Seed funding came from True Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, Boom Capital, and Next Coast Ventures.
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