Hi there, Agent of Impact! Welcome to ImpactAlpha Open, our free weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop and ahead of the curve in impact investing and sustainable finance. As you’ll read below, the ImpactAlpha team was all over Climate Week NYC, finding the people, news and insights that give our readers an edge in the fast-changing market for climate investing.
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In this week’s Open:
- A carbon market for sustainable development
- Female investors and entrepreneurs lead on climate change
- Empowering young impact professionals
- Kafi Lindsay: Philadelphia’s next impact leader
Let’s get to it. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- Banking on climate adaptation. Entrepreneurs and investors are piling into the “unavoidable opportunity” in climate resilience. Early adaptation adopter Jay Koh is building a strategy to deliver equity, credit and technical assistance through what Koh calls a one-stop shop, or virtual green bank for adaptation finance across asset classes. “There’s over $600 million of investments we can do in credit right now,” Koh told ImpactAlpha. Get the story.
- Female climate entrepreneurs in Latin America. Women-led companies from Mexico to Chile and Brazil are leveraging Latin America’s natural resources – and scientific know-how – to decarbonize supply chains for textiles, plastics, construction and other industries. I rounded up some of the female founders powering climate entrepreneurship in the latest ImpactAlpha Latin America. Who’s who. Get the full LatAm experience.
- Women-led funds leading the commercialization of climate tech. A new crop of fund managers is stepping up to address the shortage of growth capital for climate companies that have proven their technologies – and may even have found their first customers – but now need to scale up production. Jessica Pothering profiled six women-led funds that are capitalizing the commercialization of climate tech. Check out the strategies.
- Using carbon credits to finance sustainable development. Carbon credits, which have taken a hit as a strategy for offsetting emissions, are becoming a major source of funding for clean cookstoves, energy access, regenerative agriculture and other sustainable development priorities, reports Amy Cortese. “Our starting point is the impact that these solutions are having to people in poverty,” said Amrita Bhandari of Acumen, which hosted a Climate Week discussion on using carbon markets to finance social impact. Read more.
- Empowering young impact professionals. A report from Impact Capital Managers identifies models for impact organizations looking to foster the next generation of impact leaders. “By sharing the experiences and reflections of established leaders, we hope to create a stronger pipeline that helps to attract more talent to the industry,” says Salesforce Venture Impact Fund’s Adrianna Alterman. Check it out.
- Climate inflation hits the grocery aisle. In the US presidential election, pocketbook issues are eclipsing climate concerns. Many people don’t realize that global warming is already hitting their pocketbooks. Prices are significantly higher for cocoa, olive oil, coffee, milk, wine, cheese, almonds, cereal, fruit and just about every global food staple, at least in part because of climate change, explains As You Sow’s Andrew Behar in his latest Fiduciary Future column on ImpactAlpha. See how.
Agents of Impact
🔔 Kafi Lindsay, ImpactPHL: Leading the next era of impact in Philadelphia
ImpactPHL, the Philadelphia-based nonprofit behind the annual Total Impact summit, has found a CEO in Kafi Lindsay. A lawyer turned banker turned community economic developer, Lindsay’s goal is “to create a powerful impact investing ecosystem in Philadelphia that can be modeled nationally,” she tells ImpactAlpha. Philly boasts at least a dozen locally-focused impact funds and investors, including Reinvestment Fund, Halloran Philanthropies, The Collective and Kensington Corridor Trust. Lindsay is connecting with ImpactPHL’s stakeholders, mapping out strategies and building out “ImpactPHL 2.0.”
- Keep reading, “Kafi Lindsay, ImpactPHL: Leading the next era of impact in Philadelphia,” by Roodgally Senatus on ImpactAlpha and share the story on Instagram.
🏃 On the move
- Kresge Foundation’s Joe Evans joined Opportunity Finance Network as climate finance senior executive fellow.
- Illumen Capital welcomed three new interns: Cornell University’s Femi Olonilua, Saadhvi Mamidi of UNC Chapel Hill, and Viridiana Santacruz of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
- Evrim Kirimkan, previously with Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, joined MCE Social Capital as head of credit risk.
The Week’s Podcasts
🎧 This Week in Impact: Takeaways from a busy Climate Week NYC
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: The buzz around early stage climate startups, the continued need for bigger checks and bigger investable opportunities, and how carbon markets are financing sustainable development.
- Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple or Spotify.
🏛️ Capitol Gains: City First’s Oswaldo Acosta on the leading role of CDFIs in the green transition
“We are all green banks now,” says City First Enterprises’ Oswaldo Acosta on the latest Capitol Gains podcast. The CEO of the Washington, DC-based community development finance institution joined podcasthosts Matt Posner and James McIntyre for a Climate Week episode on the intersection of community finance and clean energy in the rollout of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. “Our deep community ties give us the upper hand in ensuring this clean energy transition is equitable,” explains Acosta.
- Keep reading, and listen to, “City First’s Oswaldo Acosta on the leading role of CDFIs in the green transition (podcast),” by Matt Posner and James McIntyre on ImpactAlpha.
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- Capricorn is searching for an investment analyst in New York or Palo Alto.
- Angel City Advisors is seeking an associate in Los Angeles or remote.
- Locus (formerly VCC Social Enterprises) is looking for a senior analyst.
Sign up to Impact Careers get the top impact investing job listings and internships right in your inbox. Register for free.
🤝 Meet up
Don’t miss these upcoming impact investing events:
- October 7-9: AFSIC Investing in Africa (London)
- October 23-24: GIIN Impact Summit (Amsterdam)
- October 28-30: SOCAP Global (San Francisco)
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