- Beats
- The Brief
November 23, 2022
The Brief
Featured: Policy Corner
For pension fund managers, Department of Labor puts ESG back on the table – again. Cannot! Can so! Just as some states are trying to block ESG investing, the U.S. Department of Labor has given its blessing to the consideration of environmental, social and governance factors in selecting investments for pension fund beneficiaries. The Labor Department’s final rule, more than a year in the making, reverses Trump-era guidance limiting the ability of retirement plan managers subject to ERISA (short for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) to consider ESG factors in selecting investments. The guidance has whipsawed with every change of administration since President Bill Clinton. The now-superseded 2020 rules, along with a period of uncertainty while the Biden administration formulated the new guidance, chilled allocations to ESG-labeled investment options. “Given the recent wave of misinformed political attacks seeking to undermine the validity of ESG investing strategies, this rulemaking comes at an important time and provides much needed clarity for investors and fiduciaries that ESG factors are indeed material,” says Fran Seegull of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance.
Dealflow: Bridging the Gaps
C3 provides catalytic capital to accelerate the deployment of… catalytic capital. The Catalytic Capital Consortium, or C3, awarded nearly $1.4 million in grants to Village Capital, Pacific Community Ventures, Opportunity International, the Impact Investing Institute and five other organizations to expand the use of the patient, risk-tolerant, concessionary and flexible capital that is often needed for high-impact ventures and markets. “We are focusing on action-oriented projects that can translate into stronger deployment of capital while addressing deeply-embedded capital gaps and the needs of local communities,” said MacArthur Foundation’s Urmi Sengupta. Chicago-based Opportunity International will use the grant to de-risk micro and small loans for farmers and schools in low-income countries in Latin America, Africa and India. Village Capital will use the grant to create a digital matching platform for venture founders and investors for different types of financing. “These infrastructure projects are advancing solutions that support more efficient and effective delivery of catalytic capital,” said Chris Jurgens of Omidyar Network.
Impact Voices: Good Business
Five insights into the future of social entrepreneurship. As it marks 25 years of cultivating social entrepreneurship, the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University asked the field about transformation in the next quarter-century. A common aspiration: evolving beyond the need for the modifier “social.” “All entrepreneurship should ultimately create positive externalities—both financial and social,” says Geoff Davis of Sorenson Impact Center. Davis' views are among the responses that Miller Center’s Brigit Helms rounds up in a guest post for ImpactAlpha. Helms says she dreams of a day “when all entrepreneurs will understand that their job is to apply innovation and business principles to solve intractable social and environmental problems around the world.”
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Sir Ronald Cohen will chair the new International Foundation for Valuing Impacts, established to advance “impact-weighted accounts.” Harvard Business School’s George Serafeim will chair the IFVI's valuation technical and practitioner committee (for background, see, “Big banks take on the challenge of accounting for their impact”)... JBG SMITH seeks a sustainability associate in the Washington, D.C. area.
- The Call
Call Recording | September 30, 2022
Agents of Impact Call No. 45: Creative capital for gender-smart investments (video)
ImpactAlpha, September 30 – Capital to support women’s economic growth and financial inclusion is flowing – finally! – in many advanced economies. In emerging …
Climate Finance | September 19, 2022
New momentum and stubborn challenges as Climate Week kicks off (Call No. 44)
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 19 – Investors, entrepreneurs, corporate executives and world leaders have descended on New York for Climate Week, the annual gathering alongside the …
photo: PixabayOriginals | June 27, 2022
Seven Calls: Agents of Impact on carbon pricing, political risk, climate adaptation, responsible fintech and more
ImpactAlpha, June 27 – ImpactAlpha’s spring season of Agents of Impact Calls spanned a period of tumult in the financial markets: instability in …
Call Recording | June 3, 2022
Call No. 43: How responsible fintech in Africa provides resilience in a downturn (video)
ImpactAlpha, June 3 – Just as investment in financial inclusion in Africa was really ramping up, a market downturn threatens to slow progress. Or …
Impact Investing | May 13, 2022
Call No. 42: Business financing beyond venture capital to fuel the boom in entrepreneurship (video)
ImpactAlpha, May 13 – One defining outcome of the pandemic: a boom in entrepreneurship. A record five million businesses were started in the …
Inclusive Economy | April 22, 2022
Call No 41: How investors are catalyzing climate capital for adaptation and equity (video)
ImpactAlpha, April 22 – The Ukraine crisis risks tipping up to 1.7 billion people — over one-fifth of humanity — into poverty, destitution …
Frontier and Growth Markets | April 1, 2022
Call No. 40: How impact investors embrace political risk to keep progress flowing (video)
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 1 – High-impact investments in fragile countries invariably entail political risk. And impact investments in a free press, humanitarian tech, financial inclusion …
Capitalism Reimagined | March 11, 2022
Call No. 39: Moving from ESG talk to action at major corporations (video)
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 11 – It’s one thing for a corporation to set environmental or social goals. It’s another to shift executives, employees and supply …
Policy Corner | February 25, 2022
Call No. 38: Inside the generational opportunity to reshape rules of corporate disclosure
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Bottom-up policies for access to capital in divested communities. Top-down strategies to reshape capitalism to work for all stakeholders. “We …
Call Recording | February 11, 2022
Call No. 37: Ramping up the supply of carbon reduction to meet the urgent demand (video)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 11 – ”$100 a ton?” exclaimed CDP’s Paula DiPerna on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact Call this week. “I should be popping champagne.” …
Looking Ahead to 2022 | December 17, 2021
The Reconstruction in 2022: Seizing the moment to build multiracial prosperity and democracy
‘Tis the season for our lookaheads to 2022 and, thanks to ImpactAlpha subscribers, we are able to make the roundups freely available. So …
Capitalism Reimagined | December 3, 2021
Call No. 35: Building a multi-movement engine to hold corporations accountable and reimagine capitalism (video)
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 3 – The New Capitalism Project has over the past two years dissected the failings of the current system and crafted a …
- Podcasts
Podcasts | November 18, 2022
Stephan Nicoleau shares an update from COP27
Amy Cortese catches up with FullCycle’s Stephan Nicoleau who is at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to talk methane, governance and catalytic …
Podcasts | November 11, 2022
Ceres’ Steven Rothstein on the midterm elections and COP27
Host Brian Walsh is joined by Steven Rothstein, managing director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, to chat about how climate …
Podcasts | November 3, 2022
Morningstar’s Jon Hale on the U.S. Midterm Elections
Jon Hale, director of sustainability research at Morningstar, joins host Monique Aiken to talk about what is at stake for impact investors in …
Muni Impact | October 31, 2022
Optimizing the municipal bond market for health equity and racial justice (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 31 – The municipal bond market has been called the original impact investment asset class, a source of capital for water, housing, …
Podcasts | October 28, 2022
Bob Eccles on the ESG Wars
Host Brian Walsh has the headlines and Amy Cortese chats with Oxford’s Bob Eccles about why the distinction between ESG and impact in …
Podcasts | October 20, 2022
SOCAP is Back
Host Monique Aiken is live and in person with Rodney Foxworth, CEO of Common Future, and ImpactAlpha’s David Bank at SOCAP22 in San …
Podcasts | October 14, 2022
Deploying “patient capital” with Daniel Waldron
Host Brian Walsh is joined by Acumen’s Daniel Waldron to discuss lessons from the nonprofit investor’s two decades of deploying “patient capital” in …
Impact Investing | October 6, 2022
The Greening of the 401(k)
ImpactAlpha’s David Bank catches up with Zach Stein, CEO of Carbon Collective, to talk about how average investors with 401(k) retirement accounts can …
Impact Investing | September 30, 2022
Investing in refugees and women
On this week’s podcast, Dennis Price joins host Brian Walsh to talk about new opportunities in “refugee lens investing,” and Brian shares takeaways …
Podcasts | August 26, 2022
‘Community rounds’ for new impact fund managers
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 27 – On this week’s podcast, Monique Aiken has the headlines and ImpactAlpha’s Dennis Price chats with Havell Rodrigues of New Majority …
Podcasts | August 19, 2022
The Roundtable takes on the anti-ESG ETF Strive, and more
Host Brian Walsh welcomes back roundtable regulars Imogen Rose-Smith and David Bank to dissect the anti-ESG backlash and the Inflation Reduction Act. Plus, …
Podcasts | August 5, 2022
Introducing The LIIST with Luni Libes and Zuleyma Bebell
ImpactAlpha’s Zuleyma Bebell and Realize Impact’s Luni Libes join host Brian Walsh to discuss the motivation behind The LIIST, our new monthly sampling …
- Opinion
Smallholder farmers in Ghana. Source: Miller Center
Impact Voices | November 23, 2022
Five insights into the future of social entrepreneurship
In some ways, a quarter of a century is a long time to be at the forefront of social entrepreneurship. But in other …
Impact Voices | November 21, 2022
How housing investments can create wealth for investors – and tenants
“E,” for environmental, gets most of the love in ESG investing. Investments in the “S” and “G,” for social and governance, particularly in …
Photo credit: U.N. AssociationImpact Voices | November 17, 2022
Facing up to shortfalls – and trade-offs – in the Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals need rescuing, a global sustainable investors group warned recently. The SDGs are a collection of 17 interlinked goals ranging …
CapEQ’s Tynesia Boyea-RobinsonImpact Voices | November 16, 2022
A moonshot mindset for social-impact advantage
Editor’s Note: The Social Impact Advantage, the new book from Tynesia Boyea-Robinson of CapEQ, walks readers through a step-by-step process for what it …
Photo credit: Ocean Risk and Resilience Action AllianceImpact Voices | November 10, 2022
A future-focused agenda for COP27
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP27) that began a few days ago will allow the world to …
A Kenyan farmer uses his phone to access data to help him manage his crops. Source: Mercy CorpsImpact Voices | November 10, 2022
How Web3 can shift power to the climate-vulnerable
Innovative financial services and blockchain/Web3 solutions are a passport to greater climate resilience, writes Scott Onder, Mercy Corps’ chief investment officer
Impact Voices | November 3, 2022
Have we reached the tipping point for impact-linked compensation?
ImpactAlpha, November 3 – On a panel I recently moderated at the GIIN Investor Forum, I baited the participants with a statement that I …
Image credit: PatagoniaPolicy Corner | November 2, 2022
Pursuing environmental justice through the Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act is a historic investment in marginalized communities on the frontlines of climate change. However, the bill also links renewable …
Impact Voices | October 27, 2022
Can’t tell the players without a scorecard: Sorting out ESG, impact and sustainability
The Land of ESG is embroiled in a two-front war. Identifying the combatants and their arguments may help practitioners keep track of the …
Impact Management | October 27, 2022
How private equity can unlock impact alpha with ESG data from portfolio companies
Terms like “small” and “local” have become shorthand for “ethical” – a way for consumers and businesses to signal virtue. Meanwhile, having large …
David Reuter of private equity firm LLR Partners.Impact Voices | October 26, 2022
Three ways to move your private equity firm closer to racial justice – and create value
Like many people, the summer of 2020 was a moment of personal and professional reckoning for me. The uprising that followed the murder …
Impact Voices | October 25, 2022
The loss of reproductive rights as a political risk factor
General Secretary Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev stepped down from his post as leader of the Soviet Union in December 1991. The national treasury was …
- Agents of Impact
Agents of Impact | November 4, 2022
Mia Mottley, Barbados: Shaping the global finance agenda.
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 4 – Barbados is an island nation of just 166 square miles and less than 300,000 inhabitants. But its leader, Mia …
photo credit: Jim Hill/CPR NewsAgents of Impact | October 28, 2022
Blake Jones, Kachuwa Impact Fund: Making co-ops work for investors, too.
Blake Jones is “a cooperative geek.” After co-founding four co-op enterprises, including Namaste Solar and Clean Energy Credit Union, he has brought the …
Agents of Impact | October 7, 2022
Regina Kline, Enable Ventures: Closing the disability gap
ImpactAlpha, October 7 – Regina Kline has seen the state of labor and employment for disabled Americans up close, as a lawyer representing workers …
Agents of Impact | September 23, 2022
Suzanne Biegel, GenderSmart: Making markets work for women and the world
ImpactAlpha, September 23 – Women are hot… investments. So declared ImpactAlpha back in 2014, when we used quote marks for investors unfamiliar with “gender …
Agents of Impact | August 19, 2022
Charley Cummings, Walden Mutual Bank: Sustainable lending for sustainable food
Within the next few weeks, if everything goes according to plan, the first customers will make deposits in New Hampshire-based Walden Mutual Bank, …
Photo credit: Annie O'NeillAgents of Impact | August 5, 2022
Brandon Dennison, Coalfield Development: Forging a path for Appalachia’s green economy
ImpactAlpha, August 5 – In the roller coaster climate bill negotiations with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, Brandon Dennison brought something to the table …
Agents of Impact | July 29, 2022
Taj Eldridge of Include Ventures: Putting the cool in climate action
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 29 – Patagonia vests and khakis ain’t gonna cut it, says Taj Eldridge. To spread the word on climate action, the PhD …
Amy Bell, The Cook's NookAgents of Impact | July 8, 2022
Amy Bell, The Cook’s Nook: Planting seeds for impact
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 8 – Amy Bell’s early work as a financier and advisor to impact funds and social enterprises helped establish the nascent field …
Colombia's Gustavo Petro and Francia MarquezAgents of Impact | June 25, 2022
New Climate Leaders: Winning with a green agenda
If the rise of a Black former maid to vice president was once unthinkable in Colombia, so too was the idea that the …
Agents of Impact | June 10, 2022
Elyse Cherry, BlueHub Capital: Creating equity for healthy communities
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 10 – Payday loans. Car loans. Student loans. “One way to describe our economy is that it’s about draining every ounce of …
Agents of Impact | June 7, 2022
In Silicon Valley, talent follows the capital – and the optimists – into climate tech
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 7 – Where you stand on the incipient tech slowdown may depend on where you sit. Investors and executives in climate …
Agents of Impact | May 27, 2022
Olu Oyinsan, Oui Capital: Investing in Africa’s mass market
ImpactAlpha, May 27 – Five years ago, Olu Oyinsan felt an urgent pull back to his native Nigeria while working in the early-stage practice …
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