ImpactAlpha, March 12 – A modest downturn in demand triggered a crash in oil prices that will strand billions of dollars in fossil fuel assets and, perhaps, signal a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions. That the inciting incident was a worldwide pandemic and not, say, the adoption of electric vehicles or the establishment of a...Read More

ImpactAlpha, March 12 – Toronto-based Engineers Without Borders has been making early-stage venture investments since 2013 as a complement its non-profit global development work. After a dozen investments, the organization is spinning off its venture arm as Hummingbird Impact to expand investments in tech-enabled social enterprises. Engineers Without Borders will remain a shareholder in the...Read More

Brad Merchant is Director of Impact Investments at Palladium, discusses the current economic climate in Africa and the secrets to investing in the region. When you imagine a finance professional at work in pursuit of the next impact investment opportunity, you may not envisage hours spent on dusty, back roads in rural West Africa. But...Read More

  Our LinkedIn audience answered five questions on the current state of ESG investing, including how to manage gaps in the disclosure of ESG data. The LinkedIn chat questioned whether asset managers were actively pricing climate change risks into their investment decisions and portfolios. The discussion concluded that ESG compliance was now a vital consideration...Read More

Nearly a decade after the world’s largest climate fund, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), was established in 2010 under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the first comprehensive performance review of the Fund’s effectivity, functionality and impact was published in late 2019.Is the Fund responding to the needs of developing countries? How are...Read More

The New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced a new Co-Investment Fund to support emerging clean energy startups. The fund has an initial $6 million in capital to finance clean energy startups seeking to match investments from qualified investors. The Co-Investment Fund is part of New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s climate...Read More

Socially responsible investing — also know as ethical, green or sustainable investing — is the new buzzword in the financial world. A growing number of institutions and individual investors seem to want to invest according to ethical principles, and the financial industry has been happy to oblige. Today, investors can choose from a smattering of...Read More

Institutional investor increased pressure to take environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into account in investing has soared, prompting greater transparency on ESG policies and performance, as well as a rise in dedicated impact funds within private markets, according to McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) 2020 annual review of global private markets, A New Decade for Private Markets....Read More

Corporate CEOs and boards are under increasing pressure from investors and others to do better by the planet and everyone living on it. That means doing all of the following and more: Go green. Do business more ethically, humanely and sustainably. Treat employees well and pay them fairly. Diversify the workplace and boardroom. Improve data...Read More

Mr. Sukhdev, who received the award alongside conservation biologist Gretchen C. Daily, was the Special Adviser and Head of UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative, a major project launched by then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, to demonstrate that greening of economies is not a burden on growth but rather a new engine for growing wealth, increasing decent employment, and reducing persistent poverty. He was also...Read More