Hi there, Agent of Impact!
The ImpactAlpha team gathered over brews and bagels in Brooklyn last week to celebrate with FOIAs (friends of ImpactAlpha), plot growth strategies and explore ways to deepen our impact. One takeaway: Keep engaging our readers. How has ImpactAlpha had an impact on you? Drop us a line (or reply to this email).
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In this week’s Open:
- The Liist of green and inclusive managers
- Racial equity investors lean in
- Repricing climate risk in passive investing
- Drones > fireworks
Ok, let’s get to it. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- The Liist: Green twists on inclusive, place-based investing. Diverse clean tech founders in Los Angeles. Shopping centers in Chicago. And community-based real estate development nationwide. Fund managers on this month’s Liist of impact funds currently raising capital are financing underserved communities and founders, climate justice and the green transition, reports Jessica Pothering.
- Racial equity investors lean in. In the wake of last month’s US Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action, investors are reaffirming their commitment to building a more equitable society, report David Bank and Dennis Price.
- Family forests fight climate change. Family owners of small forests can tap carbon markets for revenues to sustainably manage their land to sequester carbon, support biodiversity and reduce wildfire risk, reports journalist Marcello Rossi for ImpactAlpha.
- Communities connect to capital for solutions in food, water and housing. The refrain of “too much money, not enough projects” rang hollow to delegates from the Global South at last month’s Salzburg Global Seminar, reports David Bank from Austria.
- Repricing climate risk in passive investing. Make sustainable investment options the default in employees’ 401(k) retirement plans, argues Zach Stein of Carbon Collective (which offers just such products). With passive portfolios now representing more than half of US equity fund assets, investors are missing climate risks and opportunities.
Sponsored by Tideline
Momentum and headwinds for investors targeting positive impact outcomes alongside financial returns. Evolving limited-partner appetite and expectations for impact. And recent regulatory, reporting and disclosure developments. Join Tideline on Wednesday, July 19 for their third annual “State of the Impact Investment Market,” a conversation with leading practitioners to consider market trends, opportunities and risks – and where we go from here.
- Impact lineup. Speakers in Tideline’s Compass Series include Megan Reilly Cayten of Climate Asset Management; Rodney Foxworth of Worthmore; Laura Houët of CMS; Dimple Sahni of Anthos Fund and Asset Management; Eddie Madzikanda of Temasek; and Jane Bieneman of Tideline.
Agents of Impact
🏃🏿♀️ On the move
- Founding members of Impact Capital Managers’ new LP advisory council include Mark Berryman of Caprock, Cynthia Muller of Kellogg Foundation, and Sanjeev Krishnan of S2G Ventures and Builders Vision, among others.
Impact Briefing
🎧 On the podcast
David Bank chats with Empowa’s Glen Jordan in the next conversation from the recent “Connecting Capital to Communities” gathering at the Salzburg Global Seminar, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Host Brian Walsh has the headlines.
- Listen to this week’s episode, and follow all of ImpactAlpha’s podcasts on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
- Catch up on earlier conversations in our “Connecting Capital to Communities” series, including Vienna’s Michaela Kauer on that city’s affordable housing model and FarMart’s Samridhi Singh on connecting Indian farmers to global markets, and David’s recap of the gathering.
Deal Spotlight
💸 Avaada’s big push to green India’s ammonia and hydrogen production
Green ammonia and green hydrogen are among the highest impact opportunities for the net-zero transition in agriculture, manufacturing and transportation. Mumbai-based Avaada Group scored $1.3 billion from Brookfield Renewables and others to ramp up production for green ammonia, methanol and hydrogen, along with solar manufacturing and renewable power generation
Short Signals
💥 Impact in the C-Suite. The role of chief impact officer got a boost when BetterUp hired the most famous CIO to date: Prince Harry. Corporate leadership teams are elevating impact from an isolated department to an essential lens for making decisions. (Inc.)
📈 Demand for sustainable investments. A quarter of asset managers in Pitchbook’s 2021 sustainable investment survey said that majority of their LPs had asked them about sustainability. In last year’s survey, only 17% reported such questions from so many clients. (Pitchbook)
👩🏽🦱🧑🏼🦱👨🏾🦲👩🏻 Racial equity collaborative. Members of the American Sustainable Business Network, Confluence Philanthropy, The ImPact, Impact Capital Managers, Intentional Endowments Network, and Toniic gathered in New York to build a multi-year plan to advance racial equity in capital markets. (ICM)
💲 For dealflow, less is more. When Elevar Equity decided to actively talk about its investment philosophy, the goal was not to increase the number of pipeline opportunities coming its way, but to reduce them, writes Elevar’s Jyotsna Krishnan. (Elevar Equity)
📐 Managing systemic risk. Managing impact is a growing imperative to optimize the market’s capacity to manage risks and opportunities. (Impact Management Project)
🎆 Drones > fireworks. Salt Lake City, Lake Tahoe and North Richland Hills, Texas were among U.S. cities that opted for drone-lit skies over fireworks this Fourth of July, hoping to decrease air pollution and fire danger. (The Hill)
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- JPMorgan Chase seeks a VP of impact venture investing on its impact finance and advisory team.
- Open Road Alliance is on the hunt for an investment officer to to source, underwrite and manage loans in the Open Road Impact Fund.
- Tides is hiring an impact investing vice president in San Francisco and a senior accountant for social ventures.
Don’t miss dozens of more impact jobs curated this week on ImpactAlpha.com.
🤝 Meet up
Don’t miss these upcoming impact investing events:
- 26 July: The Bloomberg Sustainable Summit (Singapore)
- 27-30 August: Latimpacto Conference (Rio de Janeiro)
- 17-24 September: ClimateWeek NYC (New York)
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