Hi there, Agent of Impact! Welcome to the latest ImpactAlpha Open, your weekly edge in impact investing and sustainable finance.
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In this week’s Open:
- America’s overflowing water investment pipeline
- Push and pull of impact investing in Latin American family offices
- SJF Ventures: Bending the impact curve
- Kamala Harris and the new community lending ecosystem
Ok, let’s jump in. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- Opening the investment tap for water. The enormous co-benefits of clean drinking water for healthy communities and thriving economies far outweigh even the historic US capital outlay for water infrastructure upgrades that has just started to flow (see theCall roundup below). In her stage-setter for this week’s Call, Amy Cortese detailed the growing range of high-impact water investment opportunities available to help communities seize the generational moment. Let it flow.
- Grappling with ‘slow-onset’ climate risks. Slow moving impacts of climate change – think water stress and creeping desertification – will upend lives and livelihoods in the decades to come. The new Physical Climate Risk Assessment Methodology is helping institutional investors assess such chronic risks and weave resilience into their lending and investment processes, reports ImpactAlpha’s Louie Woodall. Check it out.
- Impact investing at Latin American family offices. Wealthy families in Latin America are being nudged toward impact by next-gen family members that see opportunities in their home countries’ large and overlooked markets. That is giving fund managers, high-impact startups and small businesses a growing source of flexible capital, I reported to lead this month’s ImpactAlpha Latin America. Read more and sign up for free.
- Climate VCs rally to protect green policies. Venture investors in climate tech and clean energy rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris are no doubt looking to protect the planet, but their portfolios stand to benefit as well, reports Lynnley Browning. “If you spend time gleefully poring over the IRA, infrastructure bill and CHIPS bill, surely you have a few hours to help elect the people who delivered it,” as Overture Climate’s Shomik Dutta. See who’s involved.
- How Kamala Harris helped prepare grassroots lenders. Back in 2022, Harris helped launch a small-business financing initiative that is now being repurposed to stand up the new ecosystem of green lenders. “We not only advance economic justice,” Harris said at the Freedman’s Bank Forum. “We strengthen our economy as a whole, creating prosperity and opportunity for all – together.” Read on.
- China’s role in near-record renewable energy investment. Global investment in renewable energy projects fell back this year, but still hit its second-highest level ever in the first six months, with solar leading the pack, Lynnley reports. The $313 billion in renewables in the first half of 2024 were 11% below record levels of the second half of last year. Mainland China is once again the biggest market for renewables, with its nearly $130 billion of new investment in the first six months of this year. Shine on.
Agents of Impact
- Dave Zellner, who retired as chief investment officer of Wespath Benefits and Investments, is named executive chair of FaithInvest.
- Arnold Byarugaba, previously with Mastercard Foundation, joins Collaborative for Frontier Finance as the chief operating officer and head of networks.
- Kenan Fikri, ex- of Economic Innovation Group, joined the US Department of Commerce as director of the regional economic research initiative.
The Week’s Podcasts
🎧 This Week in Impact: Water Pipeline
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. On tap this week: Sound bites from Radhika Fox, Shaun O’Rourke and Rogelio Rodriguez from this week’s Agents of Impact Call on water infrastructure investing; why climate VCs are rallying for Harris; and how and why wealthy families in Latin America are investing for impact.
- Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple or Spotify. And if you like what you hear, please leave a rating and review.
😎 Agents of Impact: SJF Ventures bends the impact curve
The Durham, NC-based venture firm has been a leader of what might be called the “alpha in impact” wing of the impact investing market – how to derive unique financial value “that is driven by and integral to the impact of the companies,” as SJF’s Dave Kirkpatrick explains on the latest episode of ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact podcast. Kirkpatrick was joined by SJF’s Kelsey Jarrett to discuss how the firm is unlocking portfolio value with better impact measurement and management. Dave and Kelseylaid out the firm’s new approach to impact measurement and management in an accompanying guest post.
- Listen to the Agents of Impact podcast, “How SJF Ventures seeks to bend the impact curve.” And catch up on all of the podcasts on the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network.
The Call: Muni Impact
💧 Water, long overlooked, is increasingly investable (video)
For something that underpins every aspect of our lives, water has long been “out of sight, out of mind” when it comes to investment, says Radhika Fox of North Star Strategy. Agents of Impact Call No. 63 made visible and top of mind the opportunities to finance water infrastructure for water quality, community health and climate resilience. The US bipartisan infrastructure law’s historic $50 billion allocation for water infrastructure is sparking excitement in communities large and small that are eager to upgrade their drinking and wastewater systems and lay a foundation for economic growth.
- Opportunities flowing. Investors, green banks and foundations are identifying strategies and investable opportunities to maximize the government funds. “We see a lot of willingness to do things that communities have never done before,” said Rogelio Rodriguez of Water Finance Exchange, who joined from Lufkin, Texas, where he and colleagues were hosting a water workshop for local water systems. WaterFX has stood up funds to enhance the credit of disadvantaged communities, make low-cost loans for pre-development project work, and provide grants for disadvantaged communities.
- Keep reading, “Water, long overlooked, is increasingly investable,” and watch the replay. ImpactAlpha’s “Muni Impact” is sponsored by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- Builders Vision is hiring a vice president of energy in Chicago.
- Impact Engine, a women-owned and led venture capital and private equity firm, is searching for an investment analyst in Chicago.
- Lafayette Square has open roles for a business development associate and a marketing coordinator.
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🤝 Meet up
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- September 9-11: Latimpacto (Oaxaca)
- October 7-9: AFSIC Investing in Africa (London)
- October 25: Norselab Impact Day (Oslo)
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