Reed Hundt on the Coalition For Green Capital’s first deals and big plans (Q&A)
Last week, the Coalition for Green Capital announced two direct deals totaling $175 million, its first deployments of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. …
Tagged with: Originals
SOCAP’s ‘best dressed’ choose substance and style
At this year’s SOCAP gathering in San Francisco, attendees were asked to bring their authentic selves to the annual impact investing conference. That …
‘First-time ever’ economic conditions challenge impact investors to rethink models and expectations
Pump it up until you can feel it. Pump it up when you don’t really need it. – “Pump it Up,” Elvis Costello …
The Mississippi River
Come hell or high water: Building community resilience to floods, droughts and water contamination
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 11 – Water — too little, too much or too dirty — isn’t simply emerging as a climate consideration. It’s forcing …
White House advisor Mitch Landrieu and LPO's Jigar Shah at the Demonstrate, Deploy, Decarbonize conference
With catalytic climate financing, Energy Department looks to demonstrate, deploy and decarbonize
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 28 – “We’re the government and we’re here to help.” The Department of Energy is trying to turn the old punchline …
Photo: Dllu (Wikicommons)
Protesters and private investors to pressure global leaders at Climate Week NYC
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 14 – When world leaders jet into New York for the annual UN General Assembly this weekend, it will be hard …
Clean energy investors are not waiting for Inflation Reduction Act’s billions to flow
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 15 – For Caelux Corp., investing in building a new solar factory outside Los Angeles was a no-brainer. Tax credits in …
Mangrove forest in Sindh, Pakistan
Revival of Pakistan’s mangroves provides a blueprint for global restoration
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 9 – Less than 20 years ago, Keti Bandar, a coastal town in southeastern Pakistan, had barren shores. Today, it’s a …
Catalytic grants aim to ready communities to deploy historic clean energy funding
ImpactAlpha, July 27 – When the Covid pandemic hit, philanthropic organizations mobilized with relative lightning speed to address the crisis and its impact …
Could a ‘New Global Pact’ wring catalytic capital from the World Bank and development finance institutions?
ImpactAlpha, June 21 – In the year since Barbados’ Mia Mottley floated “The Bridgetown Agenda,” the need for 21st century institutions for financing …
Big Chill: Political backlash and legal threats sap shareholder support for climate action and ESG
ImpactAlpha, May 31 – Shareholders are voting on a record number of resolutions related to corporate action on climate and ESG – for …
With rate hikes and bank woes, impact investors and entrepreneurs face a capital crunch
ImpactAlpha, May 4 – Like cartoon characters running in air, impact investors best not look down. Gone are the low interest rates and …
Can China’s impact investing ecosystem expand beyond green energy and ESG?
ImpactAlpha, April 17 – China manufactures more batteries than the rest of the world combined, by far. The country’s spending of $546 billion …
The next step in pay-for-performance: A marketplace for buying and selling social outcomes
ImpactAlpha, April 13 – A new marketplace has brokered its first deal: the “sale” of $2 million in improved education and mental health …
Mass migration, stranded communities and ‘chronic’ climate disruptions challenge the muni market
ImpactAlpha, April 6 – The municipal bond market has barely begun to grapple with the risks posed by climate change, despite an escalating …
photo: World Economic Forum
In Larry Fink’s letter to investors, ESG is the business imperative that dare not speak its name
ImpactAlpha, March 16 – Don’t expect BlackRock to back off from ESG any time soon. Even if the acronym appears nowhere in chairman …
Climate tech and other startups exhale after the U.S. backstops Silicon Valley Bank depositors
ImpactAlpha, March 13 – At the end of a nervous weekend, disaster was averted for Silicon Valley’s ecosystem of climate tech, health tech …
India poised to lead – and test – the just energy transition
ImpactAlpha, March 6 – India is fast becoming the focus of efforts to super-charge climate funding into the Global South. Under Prime Minister …
Policymaking for workers and communities in the Year of the ‘S’
ImpactAlpha. Feb. 24 – “A labor market where workers have more opportunities and have more power and have more leverage is a good …
photo: dylan nolte
New rules to account for a key corporate asset: employees
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 21 – Unemployment is at record lows. Manufacturing and union jobs are making a comeback. Workers are holding their employers to …
Private equity giants double down on the low-carbon transition and impact investing
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 14 – Brookfield Asset Management made waves last June when it closed fundraising for its $15 billion energy transition fund, the …
Leslie Brun and Aarti Kotak of Ariel Alternatives
Why corporate buyers bet $1.5 billion with Ariel Alternatives to diversify supply chains and close racial wealth gaps (Q&A)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 13 – Building up Black-led firms to become suppliers to America’s largest corporations is a long-term project. With Project Black, Ariel …
Voluntary carbon markets face a reckoning over credit quality and environmental impact
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 25 – Are carbon markets a key pillar of climate finance, or an empty exercise in double-counting and greenwashing? After soaring …
photo: World Economic Forum
What if they threw an elite global forum in a Swiss ski resort and no one cared?
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 19 – At least for those of us who aren’t there, it is definitely cooler to skip Davos than to attend …
John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy (photo: ImpactAlpha)
Overheard at the Public Finance Conference: Investment opportunities in Emerging Market America
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 17 – A computer glitch that snarled air traffic last week presented a fitting backdrop as government and finance leaders gathered …
The case of the suddenly missing trillions in ESG investments
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 14 – It’s an ESG whodunnit. Sustainable investment assets in the U.S. totaled $17.1 trillion in 2020, according to US SIF. …
Move over climate, here come biodiversity disclosures
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 8 – Even as a mandatory climate disclosure rule proposed by U.S. regulators hits speed bumps, efforts are underway to require …
Source: Amplify ESG
Pro-ESG forces rally to confront backlash against corporate accountability, workers rights and risk management
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 5 – It took a while, but advocates for the integration of environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions are …
For pension fund managers, Department of Labor puts ESG back on the table – again
ImpactAlpha, Nov.23 – Cannot! Can so! Just as some states are trying to block so-called ESG investing, the U.S. Department of Labor has …
New narrative of climate action: Unstoppable progress and immense opportunity
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 15 – It has become fashionable to dismiss global climate confabs like COP27 as so much “blah blah blah.” But for …
Photo credit: Akintune Babatunde
At COP27, ‘loss and damages’ inches from discussion to action
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 10 – Scotland kicked off the race with $7 million. Then came $13.5 million from Denmark, $10 million from Ireland, $50 …
Photo credit: Tienda Pago
Inclusive fintechs build on gains to help emerging market businesses weather the economic storm
ImpactAlpha, November 8 – First it was Covid lockdowns. Then global supply-chain disruptions. Now, the rising cost of goods and interest rates is tightening …
A new kind of carbon credit incentivizes fossil fuel producers to ‘keep it in the ground’
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 3 – ‘Keep it in the ground’ has long been a rallying cry for climate activists. A new company is creating …
What’s at stake for climate, ESG and impact investors in the U.S. midterm elections
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 2 – The annual global climate summit known as COP27, this year in Egypt, will coincide with next week’s midterm elections …
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Creative finance is needed to plug gaps in global climate funding – and to rescue COP27
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 26 – Climate action is facing mighty headwinds just two weeks before the COP27 global climate summit kicks off in Sharm …
photo: Phenix Capital
Rockefeller Foundation’s new climate strategy: A Q&A with Thomas Belazis
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 18 – In late July, The Rockefeller Foundation announced a major shift: it would make climate central to everything it does. …
How women-led funds in South Africa are unlocking capital for women and small businesses
ImpactAlpha, September 26 – Gender-lens investing is no longer a niche or little-known strategy. Still, too little capital is making it into the hands …
Overheard at India’s ‘Impact 2022’: Climate investment tipping point
ImpactAlpha, September 15 – India is experiencing a surge of interest in climate investment and innovation, thanks to the country’s bold commitments at COP26 …
Bringing the energy transition to every building and neighborhood, with public and private capital
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 13 – Green jobs in South Los Angeles. Low-carbon retrofits and cost savings in New York public housing. Electric vehicle and battery …
The Climate Finance Tracker’s data-driven map for catalytic climate investors (Q&A)
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 12 – Where is capital most impactful in combating climate change? What kind of capital is needed where? And who is …
Photo credit: Teranga Capital
Teranga Capital: Taking risks to build an impact ecosystem in West Africa
ImpactAlpha, August 22 – Dakar-based Teranga Capital does private equity deals. It deploys venture capital. It helps small businesses that are too early for …
Community lenders look to carve out a role for themselves in new green bank fund
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 18 – The Inflation Reduction Act, sprung from the seeming dead just three weeks ago, sprinted into law almost as fast …
photo: Sam Bloxham
Formula E: The hum of electric race cars signals the arrival of the EV era
ImpactAlpha, July 21 – There was no deafening roar of engines as 22 race cars careened along the Brooklyn waterfront last weekend. This …
Early-stage climate tech offers a bright spot amid the gloom
ImpactAlpha, July 19 – U.S. climate policy is in disarray. Venture capital investments are plummeting. The IPO window is shut. And crypto is …
Mansoor Hamayun | Photo credit: Bboxx
Off-grid solar pioneer Bboxx is following the data to down-market growth
ImpactAlpha, July 11 – Mansoor Hamayun couldn’t have anticipated the data revolution when he launched Bboxx more than a decade ago. Back then, the …