The Editor’s Post: What to do with the corporate $$$?

Julie Pybus 14th June 2024

As the wealth of the world’s multinationals seems to spiral ever higher, surely they should reconsider how they invest their riches – or do we need a more fundamental shift? This week’s view from the Pioneers Post newsroom.

This week saw the publication of a new guide to persuade and assist more corporates to use at least some of their funds for impact investments. The guide was launched by Impact Europe, the content’s impact investing network, at a conference in the Netherlands bringing together impact investors and representatives of big businesses.

At a time when the wealth of the world’s tech giants and other multinationals seems to be spiralling ever higher, surely it makes sense for at least some of their holdings to be invested for not only positive financial returns, but also social and environmental returns. This is the argument of Impact Europe’s corporate market development lead, Sophie Fajour, who points out that the corporate contribution to the global impact investment market is tiny. It’s massive “untapped potential”, she says.

But do we need a more fundamental shift? Three of the world’s big thinkers on the future role of businesses have contributed an article to Pioneers Post this week that dives right down to what they say is at the root of the world’s current problems – “capital bias”. Erinch Sahan, Kate Raworth and Marjorie Kelly argue that this bias favours the wealthy – the holders of capital – over workers, society and the environment. This means that the rich get richer, while the rest of us, and the planet, are left behind.

They’ve got a solution though, and that’s a top to bottom rethink of business, or what they call “deep enterprise redesign”. And the good news is that some enterprises (including social enterprises, of course) are already demonstrating how it can work in practice.

If a business is going to transform its structure, it usually needs the help of a lawyer or two. The third article that we’ve featured this week, part of our Earth Fixers series, shines a light on the lawyers at the forefront of transforming ‘business as usual’. They’re reshaping company boards, future-proofing contracts, and even being on the frontline of direct action protests.

We hope this week’s reading brings you some new perspectives and fresh inspiration, and if you want a deeper dive into this theme, check out the content under the ‘doughnut economics’ tab on our website.