INTERVIEW: Putting a price tag on a company’s social and environmental impact is the only way to demonstrate its true profit and loss, believes Sir Ronald Cohen, who is now focusing on driving forward the next accounting revolution.
INTERVIEW: Founded in 1990s eastern Europe, NESsT is still helping high-impact organisations to grow, and not rely on grants. We hear how it makes extra efforts to track its own impact – and how a new fund is tackling LGBTQIA+ discrimination.
Following record investments in 2021, deals are lower this year, Dealroom’s Impact Database reveals this week. Yet impact startups remain collectively valued at more than US$2tn and “impact unicorns” have reached 200.
INTERVIEW: As B Lab leads a "substantial revisit" of the criteria for companies seeking B Corp status, we ask the man who oversees these standards what will change – and if recent criticism of B Corp certifications is justified.
Company directors’ reliance on international accounting standards means sustainability issues are currently reported separately, if at all. But there are steps they can take to better meet their legal responsibilities, says our columnist.
This week: impact investors unite against US foreign aid freeze; sustainability gets lukewarm embrace at Paris AI summit; concerns raised about UK government’s social investment advisory group members; and more.
The EU’s position as a leader in building sustainable economies is at risk, warn impact leaders, as complex sustainability laws are threatened by the bloc’s drive to become more competitive.
Women entrepreneurs still struggle to raise capital, and it is because of systemic gender bias, says Marta Zaccagnini. Her experience with impact-focused founders proves that women have enormous untapped potential.
This week: the financial fragility of Black-led social enterprises and charities in London, a bonanza of multiyear grant funding for creative enterprises in Scotland and a bumper harvest of payouts for employee-owned veg box firm Riverford.
As Donald Trump pulls the plug on the world’s largest aid donor, the impact investing community warns the existing funding gap to meet the SDGs will widen by billions of dollars. But is China now poised to step forward?
Yes, blended finance has its flaws, but Mariana Mazzucato’s critical UN briefing creates a misleading narrative around its role, says Joan Larrea of Convergence. The approach’s real promise is not as a gap-filler, but a market enabler.
This week: Irish social enterprises test accreditation, AVPN and Latimpacto collaborate, a criticism of the UK government’s view of civil society, and more.
Independent review finds UK's social investment wholesaler has driven growth in lower-risk funds but frontline social investors say more catalytic capital is needed.
AI, natural capital, the Trump effect, this year’s G20, and the self-destruction of modern civilisation were all discussed at this year’s World Economic Forum annual meeting featuring Muhammad Yunus, Klaus Schwab, Steven Pinker and more.
