The Impact World This Week: 14 November 2024
Your quick guide to the most interesting news snippets about social enterprise, impact investment and mission-driven business around the world from the Pioneers Post team. This week COP29 paves way for “game-changing tool” to tackle the climate crisis, the UK government confirms no change for dormant assets allocation and the winners of the 2024 Social Enterprise NI Awards.
Global – COP29: Billions of dollars could be mobilised each year to fund initiatives tackling CO2 emissions, as COP29 negotiators agreed a framework for a global carbon credit market operating under UN rules this week. Carbon credits can be sold by projects that are preventing carbon emissions or removing CO2 from the atmosphere (for example by growing trees), and purchased by countries or companies to offset their own emissions and help them meet their “net zero” targets. COP29 participants have agreed on the standards that would underpin the market, paving the way for the launch of a “game-changing tool”, COP29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev said. Current schemes for carbon trading are not overseen by a global official organisation and have been criticised for their lack of reliability and cases of greenwashing.
England: The UK government confirmed this week that the social investment sector will receive £87.5m from the expanded dormant assets scheme between 2024 and 2028. This is no change from an announcement made by the previous government in October 2023, which highlighted plans for £350m of new dormant assets funding to be divided between four focus areas in England: social investment wholesalers, community wealth funds, young people and financial inclusion. The dormant assets scheme reunites people with lost financial assets, and, if the money remains unclaimed, uses it to back social and environmental initiatives across the UK. A dormant assets strategy is to follow “in due course”.
- Read more: Exclusive: Latest UK dormant assets allocation disappoints with just £87.5m for social investment
Homes for Good founder Susan Aktemel and Glasgow Credit Union CEO David Ross on Broomton Road, GlasgowScotland: Social enterprise letting agency Homes for Good has secured a £2.4m loan from Glasgow Credit Union. The loan will help fund the Broomton Road project in North Glasgow, which will bring four derelict properties back into use as family homes, and develop adjacent derelict retail space and land for community use. Award-winning social business Homes for Good provides affordable, quality housing for people on low incomes in Glasgow and the west of Scotland; it has raised £23m to date, providing more than 340 homes to people who can’t access private renting but are not eligible for social housing.
Northern Ireland: The winners of the 2024 Social Enterprise NI Awards have been revealed at a ceremony in Belfast. Organised by Social Enterprise Northern Ireland, the awards celebrate winners in 18 categories – among them, the Workspace Group, a social enterprise that supports businesses to stimulate social and economic regeneration, grabbed the Social Enterprise of the Year prize, and Paula Jennings of Stepping Stones, which provides training and opportunities for people facing barriers to employment such as learning difficulties, autism and dyslexia, was named Leader of the Year.
In case you missed it
Germany: ImpactVC, a global network of impact venture capital investors, has launched its German chapter, adding 80 members to the community, according to a report by German startup news website Startbase. Launched in 2023, ImpactVC, which numbers 850 members from more than 650 venture capital firms, aims to boost impact investing in mission-driven startups by sharing resources and best practices. It is backed by Better Society Capital, the UK’s wholesale impact investor, and a number of VC firms.
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