Hi there, Agent of Impact! I’m on location at Latimpacto’s confab of Latin American capital providers in Oaxaca, Mexico. And ImpactAlpha’s Amy Cortese will be sniffing out signs of the sustainability disruption all across New York Fashion Week. Say hi!
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In this week’s Open:
- Disrupting the $3 trillion fashion industry
- Seven policy planks for the ownership economy
- African capital for African infrastructure
- Inclusive impact management and other short signals
Let’s dig in. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- Disrupting fashion with sustainability and authenticity. Changing consumer tastes are giving impact investors an opportunity to disrupt the $3 trillion global fashion industry around sustainability and authenticity, I reported to kick off Sustainable Fashion, our newest beat. Rather than betting on brands, VCs are investing in the materials, operations and software that may define the future of all brands. See how.
- Policy plants for the ownership economy. Alison Lingane has rounded up practical public policy planks to mobilize dramatically more private capital for the ownership economy, as David Bank reports. Lingane says her new Ownership Capital Lab is “a field-level effort to help bring that marketplace to increased maturity so we can see more capital flowing, more deals being done.” Check it out.
- African capital for African infrastructure. In Africa, USAID Invest has mobilized infrastructure investments from African pension funds and insurers by bundling projects and investors, largely without concessional financing, the agency’s Natalie Alm and Dipika Chawla report in a guest post. Read more.
- Raising for climate + nature + gender. Across emerging markets, climate and gender angles have become table stakes for fund managers seeking to attract investors, Jessica Pothering and Lucy Ngige wrote in this month’s Liist of actively raising impact funds. See who’s raising. View ImpactAlpha’s full Liist of open funds.
- Diversity outperformance data. As You Sow’s Andy Behar and Whistle Stop Capital’s Meredith Benton turn the tables on critics of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion. As part of the series Fiduciary Future, they argue that it’s corporations retreating from their diversity commitments that are undermining the meritocracy – and shareholder value. Hear them out.
Agents of Impact
🏃 On the move
- Impact Capital Managers added Justin MacLennan, previously with Wellington Management, as a research and impact measurement and management analyst. Andrew Garrett, previously with Sorenson Impact Institute, joined as senior analyst of member experience.
- Arnold Byarugaba, formerly with Mastercard Foundation, joined the Collaborative for Frontier Finance as chief operating officer and head of networks.
- Isabella Chan, previously with Bank of America, joined Blue Earth Capital as a private equity analyst.
The Week’s Podcast
🎧 This Week in Impact: Policy planks for the ownership economy
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: bipartisan policies to mobilize private financing for transitions to worker ownership; African capital for African infrastructure; and the legal risks of backpedaling on corporate diversity commitments.
- Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple or Spotify. Catch up on all of the podcasts on the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network. Leave us a review and let us know – we’ll give you a shoutout on the podcast and in The Brief (if it’s good, we may even buy you lunch).
Short Signals
🤝 Inclusive impact management. As impact and sustainability reporting coalesces around key frameworks and standards, GSG Impact (formerly the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment) suggests that “large enterprises obligated to disclose information regarding their supply chains ought to provide assistance to their suppliers, enabling them to fulfill the minimum reporting.” In “Impact Transparency from the Ground Up,” the GSG argues that for large companies, an inclusive reporting design that brings along small businesses in the Global South, “is very much in their own self-interest.” (GSG Impact)
🏃♀️ Leapfrogging the clean energy gap. Nearly four billion people lack reliable and sufficient access to electricity. Closing “the green power gap” as the Rockefeller Foundation calls it, will require 8,700 terawatt-hours – twice the current annual generation of the US – of clean power across 72 countries by 2050. From “gradual grid greening” in India, to “decentralized solar storage” in Burkina Faso, the foundation lays out four pathways for seizing the “green window of opportunity.” (Rockefeller Foundation)
🌬️ Waste-to-wind. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., are developing a recyclable material for making wind turbines using wood, plants, agricultural waste and used cooking oil. The design is meant to address the growing problem of “wind turbine graveyards.” Without alternative materials and recycling methods, turbines could generate 43 million tons of landfill waste by 2050. (The New York Times)
🏢 Impact through infrastructure. Since 2015, the number of infrastructure impact funds has more than tripled to 357, according to the latest report from Phenix Capital. The majority of such funds target Sustainable Development Goal No. 7, “affordable and clean energy,” and are in developed markets. In total, such funds have raised more than €150 billion ($166 billion). (Phenix Capital)
⚡ Energy transition progress report. Commitments to decarbonization and the energy transition are at an all-time high. But a new report from McKinsey flags a “reality gap” in those pledges. Holding back crucial investment decisions: inconsistent economic returns, policy unpredictability, the cost-competitiveness of clean technology, and the long timeframe for scaling nascent technologies. “A significant proportion of announced projects have not yet reached the final investment decision stage at which projects are greenlit,” write the authors, meaning ‘there is a continuing risk of cancellation or leakage.” (McKinsey)
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- Tikehau Capital is looking for a regenerative agriculture investment associate in Paris.
- Blink VC is seeking an investment associate in Barcelona or Amsterdam.
- Tapestry Community Capital is searching for an impact investment manager for a remote role in the greater Toronto area.
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🤝 Meet up
Don’t miss these upcoming impact investing events:
- September 25: Norselab Impact Day (Oslo)
- 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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