Impact & ESG
Impact Investing Market Worth 307 Billion USD by 2020
The impact investing market is expected to grow from an estimated value of $135 billion in 2015 to $307 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 17.86% from 2015 to 2020. The global market is set to witness a significant growth due to increase in demand for impact capital, growing ecosystem support and impact readiness.
And the GSG Honors Go to… A Year of Growth in Impact Investing
At the Global Impact Investing Steering Group (GSG) Impact Investing Summit, Sir Ronald Cohen, British venture capitalist and chair of the GSG, predicted a 2020 tipping point. At that time, even legacy investors will have added “impact” to risk and reward as a core component of financial decision-making.
Ford Foundation’s Darren Walker Takes on Opponents of Impact Investing – Including His Own Trustees
Walker earlier this year carved out $1 billion (over 10 years) out of Ford’s $12 billion endowment for mission-related investments, or MRIs. At the GSG Impact Summit in Chicago, he shared some of the story of a journey he said ‘has been very challenging and uncomfortable for my trustees and my investment committee…who are very conservative.”
Christian Super Charts a Course for Institutional Impact Investing
Christian Super is not stopping with its 10% allocation to impact investments, which is already impressive for an institutional investor. To the more than AU$100 million out of its $1.3 billion portfolio, the Australian pension fund has committed another $50 million.
Impact Investment to Close the SDG Funding Gap
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will take between US$5 to $7 trillion, with an investment gap in developing countries of about $2.5 trillion. Under the new Development Agenda, it is the actual governments that hold a significant share of the resources needed to achieve the SDGs. The World Bank estimated that between 50 and 80 percent of what’s required will come from domestic resources.
UBS Raises $325 Million for Bono-Backed Impact Investment Fund
The Rise Fund, which counts Irish rock star Bono among its co-founders, aims to achieve “measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns”, UBS said in a statement on Monday.
This is a guide for organizations and individuals actively seeking to create gender equitable social change. In particular, it equips women’s funds to design strategies that use systems of finance and investments as tools to create the social change they seek.
Opinion: Investment in Agriculture is at the Heart of Sustainable Development Success
The agricultural sector alone accounts for 70 percent of water use. It often becomes a casualty of climate change, but is also emits significant greenhouse gases. It employs millions of women — who, if given access to the same resources as men, could feed an extra 150 million people in the world. Innovations in agriculture can help us make great strides on many goals.
From the Sidelines to Center Court – ESG and the Value Play
As the global industry increasingly becomes aware of how ESG integration affects the valuation of organizations, there becomes an increased need for a strategist to help maximize the valuation of a company. Specifically, an organization can look to see how ESG integration affects other particular issues like gender parity or climate change. The job of an ESG integration strategist evolves to help determine how other concepts can be incorporated as a positive practice in combination with ESG integration.
US & Europe
US Giving $638m Aid to Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, South Sudan
The United States announced more than $630 million in aid for Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria, where conflict has helped to cause what the United Nations calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in more than 70 years.
Developing Economies
Commissioned by the Multilateral Investment Fund with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, this summary of Transform Finance’s upcoming report provides an overview of the specific problems with traditional financing structures, the innovations happening now in investment funds and deal structures to alleviate the capital gap, and recommendations for how fund managers, investors, and entrepreneurs can engage with these alternatives to increase their impact.
Views from the Field: Argentina
For investors who have endured nearly two decades of hardship in Argentina, new developments in one of Latin America’s largest economies point to better days ahead. This report explores economic and political shifts through statements from 3 high profile professionals in the nation.
Impact Investment Exchange: Building a Social Capital Market in Asia
In 2009, Durreen Shahnaz launched the Impact Investment Exchange, or IIX, with a vision of building a more inclusive financial system though impact investing. Since then, IIX has established the world’s first social stock exchange, Asia’s largest equity crowd-funding platform for impact investing, and, recently, the world’s first listed bond with a focus on both social and financial returns, the $8 million Women’s Livelihood Bond.