How’d you like The Brief’s early delivery this week? (Let us know at [email protected].) Let’s see whether a dose of impact with your morning coffee boosts your impact IQ. Refill your cup and try The Brief Quiz.
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1. What is BlackRock’s message to corporate boards on climate risk?
a. It expects them to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business.
b. It expects companies to have an energy mix consistent with a 2 degree scenario.
c. Focus on adaptation rather than mitigation.
d. Ignore it, climate change is on hold until the next US election.
2. What’s needed to achieve SDG #4, universal education, by 2030?
a. Low and middle-income countries should accelerate the adoption of EdTech in hyper-rural environments.
b. Low and middle-income countries should raise their spending on education from $1 trillion in 2015. to $2.7 trillion by 2030, with international aid only playing a bit part.
c. Better paid teachers.
d. Hey, teachers, leave those kids alone.
3. NextCoast Venture has raised $85 million to boost what startup scene?
a. Cleveland. Lake Erie is hopping!
b. Ibiza. Tech and techno will boom hand in hand.
c. Reykjavík: It’s steaming!
d. Austin. No one’s got that kind of local VC money outside of ‘Muricah.
4. Heard of Capria? What’s that?
a. A goat cheese brand.
b. An Island off of the Amalfi coast.
c. A global accelerator for early stage impact funds.
d. A family office with a 100% impact porftfolio.
5. Heard of the Congo Basin Blue Fund? What’s it do?
a. It’s kickstarter landscape art installation project to paint the Congo Basin blue, inspired by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
b. Finance projects in river transport, dredging and infrastructure, renewable energy, irrigation, fishing and ecotourism to foster sustainable industries based on the Congo’s renewable resources.
c. It’s a fixed income product launched by the World Bank in support of SDGs in East Africa.
d. Finance horrible things because the world is so horrible.
6. Know MOTIF, the robo-advisor? What will it do if its ESG portfolios underperform their benchmark?
a. Declare failure and close the shop.
b. Declare victory: its strategies are designed to underperform by 0.5%.
c. Refund fees to clients.
d. Re-brand as the ultimate philanthropy play: “we give capital to companies in need.”
7. What did Leo (Leo! He’s back!) invest in last week?
a. A new pair of trainers.
b. LoveTheWild, a provider of cook-at-home “seafood kits” sourced from sustainable fish farms.
c. LoveTheTame, a chain of sustainable petting zoos.
d. Leo! My heart! It’s breaking! In a thousand pieces! Every! Time!
8.What animal is a better metaphor than a unicorn for a startup that fills social needs?
a. Fish… most startups go belly up.
b. Dog… startup founders like to congregate and yap.
c. Starlings… to succeed, they have to be carried by the winds.
d. Zebras… they are both black and white, profitable and pro-social, and won’t sacrifice one for the other.
9. What’s the dollar value of annual food waste in the US?
a. It varies with the cost of the Big Mac which makes up one out of three hot meals consumed in America.
b. More than I want to know.
c. $161 billion according to the US Department of Agriculture.
d. $4 trillion, the size of fund management giant BlackRock.
10. What enduring myth about impact investing did recent ImpactAssets roundtable participants lament?
a. social and financial trade off.
b. It’s a secret tool of the left to destroy efficient markets.
c. It’s a secret tool of the right to destroy public service.
d. It’s a fad. Sad!
That’s it for this week. I’m sure you tested well because you are beautiful and have such a great Impact IQ. Such such great IQ. Laters. Byeeeee. Ciao.
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Answers: 1a, 2b, 3d, 4c, 5b, 6c, 7b, 8d, 9c, 10a, not d.
Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
