Finance & Investment
The latest in the spheres of socially responsible investing, impact investing, and other ways investors and shareholders are asserting their desire for ethical investment options.
Water Stewardship Ramps Up, But More Investment Needed to Mitigate Climate Change
Corresponding with the kickoff of COP23, the World Water Council (WWC) has shed light on the current state of water infrastructure and what it means for mitigating climate change and delivering on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The key takeaway: water infrastructure investment must triple to €255 billion annually in order to meet sanitation targets and tackle climate change.
HSBC Pledges $100 Billion to Tackle Climate Change
HSBC is making moves to tackle climate change, unveiling five new commitments aimed at helping drive the transition to a low-carbon economy. A major component of the financial giant’s climate push is a pledge to make $100 billion in financing available for sustainability projects by 2025.
Visa Launches Foundation, Grants $20M to Support Women Entrepreneurs
Building on its larger social impact strategy, which seeks to support the growth of micro and small enterprises around the world, Visa has launched the newly-incorporated Visa Foundation. As its first order of business, the Foundation has made a financial commitment of up to $20 million to Women’s World Banking.
CDP: Eight-Fold Increase in Global Companies Pricing Carbon Since 2013
Putting a price on carbon is becoming the new normal for major multinationals, with almost 1,400 companies[1] factoring an internal carbon price into business plans, according to a new report from CDP. This represents an eight-fold leap in take up in the last four years, compared to just 150 companies in 2014, and includes more than 100 Fortune Global 500 companies with collective annual revenues of US$7 trillion[2].
Beyond Disaster Relief: How Companies Can Run to the Rescue in ‘Silent’ Emergencies
This summer came to a calamitous end with the rapid succession of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, Maria and Nate, two earthquakes in Mexico, rampant wildfires currently raging across Northern and Southern California, and countless other natural and man-made disasters across the globe.
Bank-Fintech Partnership Offers New Funding Opportunities for Sustainably Minded Startups
P2Binvestor (P2Bi), a leading marketplace lending platform that offers crowdsourced, asset-secured lines of credit to growing companies with big ambitions, is catalyzing the growth of mission-aligned business with the launch of a first-of-its kind bank partnership program. The new program provides startups and emerging businesses an innovative way to quickly access capital while allowing banks to increase their addressable market and improve their conversion rates.
Salesforce Launches $50M Impact Investment Fund to Catalyze Positive Social Change
Salesforce Ventures, the corporate investment arm of Salesforce, a global leader in customer relationship management (CRM), has launched a $50 million impact investment fund to accelerate the growth of companies using Salesforce technology to address challenges across workforce development, equality, sustainability and the social sector.
Singularity University Accelerator Aims to Set Impact Entrepreneurs Up for Long-Term Success
With the backing of a group of impact investors, Singularity University, a global community with a mission to educate, inspire and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address the world’s most pressing challenges, has launched SU Ventures, a program designed to address the more long-term needs of impact-focused startups.
How SASB Is Helping JetBlue, Investors Get on the Same Page About Materiality
Earlier this year, JetBlue released its 2016 environmental and sustainability report, accompanied by a white paper produced according to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standard for the airline industry, which covers material environmental, social and governance (ESG) information of interest to investors.
Fairphone Secures €6.5M to Take Fair, Conflict-Free Electronics Mainstream
Fairphone, a social enterprise and modular smartphone producer spurring a paradigm shift in the technology industry, has secured €6.5 million to scale up its mission to make fair, responsible electronics mainstream. The investment will enable Fairphone to continue innovating in the areas of material sourcing, production, distribution, recycling and product longevity.
Biomimicry = Return on Inspiration
Reprinted with permission. This article was originally published in the 25th Anniversary issue of GreenMoney Journal.
The Body Shop Finds New Home in Purpose-Driven Cosmetics Giant, Natura
Earlier this week, French beauty giant L’Oréal announced that it has concluded the sale of The Body Shop to Brazilian sustainable personal care group Natura Cosmeticos.
Beyond Integrated Reporting: Multicapital Accounting of Integral Data
Part Five in a 10-Part Series by Reporting 3.0. See previous parts below. The 2013 launch of the Integrated Reporting <IR> Framework from the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) swung a double-edged sword through the disclosure field:
What Questions Should Investors Be Asking to Understand If a Company Is Really Socially Sound?
As socially progressive investors, we perform our own due diligence when we consider a company and its ethical, moral and social standing before it is added to our portfolio. Investors must ensure that they properly vet their investments on a large set of data and criteria. This is especially relevant as socially responsible investing (SRI) – directing capital toward companies limiting negative environmental impact and progressing social goals – continues its evolution into the mainstream.
Trucost Launches Corporate Carbon Pricing Tool
To help companies assess exposure to evolving regional carbon-pricing mechanisms, Trucost, which is part of S&P Dow Jones Indices, has launched the Trucost Corporate Carbon Pricing Tool.
Thread Partners with Kiva to Raise $10K, Rev Up First Mile Micro-Loan Program
Certified B Corporation Thread is taking its commitment to end poverty by creating dignified jobs and responsible, high-quality fabrics to the next level with the announcement of a partnership with nonprofit Kiva. The startup, which transforms plastic bottles from the streets and canals of Haiti and Honduras into responsible fabrics, has used Kiva’s direct-to-social enterprise loan program to raise $10,000 for its zero-interest micro-loan program.
ESG2.0: Investors Can Now Use AI, Big Data to Reveal Companies' Real-Time ESG Momentum
This week, TruValue Labs unveiled its ESG Momentum™ score – the first ESG indicator that leverages artificial intelligence, big data and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) materiality framework – as part of its Insight360™ suite of products. The score reveals the positive or negative direction, or trend, of ESG performance based on daily data.
New Alliance Launches to Accelerate Impact Investment Movement
Bringing together financial institutions, investors and intermediaries to continue catalyzing the impact investing moment, the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance has launched its expanded network of impact investing leaders. The Alliance was founded last year by representatives from philanthropy, business and finance to drive impact investing in the U.S. by increasing awareness, fostering deployment of and demand for impact capital across asset classes globally and partnering with policymakers and other stakeholders to build the impact investing ecosystem.
What’s the Climate Risk of Your Insurance Company?
Recently, on National Insurance Awareness Day, I reflected on the previous week, when California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones keynoted at the Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) lunch meeting.
HP Inc. Pledges $20 Million to Improve Education Outcomes Across the World
Putting its commitment to improve access to quality education and lifelong learning for all into action, HP Inc. has pledged $20 million in technology, training R&D and funding contributions between 2015 – 2025 at the 2017 Global Citizen Festival in Hamburg, Germany.