The Impact World This Week: 21 November 2024

US: Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s has sued its parent company Unilever, alleging the multinational conglomerate has silenced it from four attempts to speak out publicly against the war in Gaza. The complaint, filed on Wednesday in federal court in New York, says Unilever has failed to adhere to its contractual obligations with Ben & Jerry’s by threatening to dismantle the company’s independent board, sue board members, intimidate personnel and censor the company “from publicly voicing support for peace and refugee rights”. Unilever, which acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, rejects the claims made in the lawsuit. Ben & Jerry’s describes itself as a “values-led company” and has a long history of political and environmental activism. Since 1989 the company has published an annual Social & Environmental Assessment Report. In January 2023 Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever settled a lawsuit over the licensing of products in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

• Watch: Pioneers Post interviews Jerry Greenfield from Ben & Jerry’s

Australia: Social enterprises spend AUS$5.7bn on delivering impact every year in Australia and half of the country’s estimated 12,000 social enterprises contribute AUS$16bn to the economy annually. The Report on Identified Social Enterprises (RISE), published by social enterprise support organisation Social Traders on Thursday to mark Social Enterprise Day, found social enterprises in Australia create 89,000 jobs for people facing barriers to work.

Asia: AVPN and Bayer Foundation have launched a US$5m fund to fight the impacts of climate change on health in vulnerable communities. The Climate x Health: Lighthouse for Asia fund, announced at COP29 this week, will provide up to US$200,000 in grants and investments to non-profit organisations developing ways to mitigate the impact of climate change on people’s health. Examples include organisations helping people obtain nutritious food during climate disruptions, or the use of climate-tech tools to anticipate and reduce health risks from extreme weather events. 

Global: Triodos Bank has committed to provide at least €500m of investments, loans and contributions to nature-based solutions between 2020 and 2030. Nature-based solutions encompass initiatives that protect or restore natural resources and ecosystems and have a positive social impact. The sustainability-focused bank  said it would start reporting on the impact of these projects in 2026, and engage with companies in their portfolio to address their negative impacts on biodiversity. Triodos published a white paper alongside the announcement, which outlines its strategy and showcases examples of past investments.

UK: There are 24,700 social enterprises in London, 6,812 in Greater Manchester and 4,000 in the north east of England, according to a set of factsheets published by Social Enterprise UK to mark Social Enterprise Day today. The data is drawn from the State of Social Enterprise Survey 2023 which identified 131,000 social enterprises across the UK. 

Global: Three out of four senior sustainability staff in companies around the world doubt they can achieve their net zero targets, according to a new report from Leafr, a platform that connects businesses with freelance sustainability specialists. The True State of Sustainability Report, released on Monday, is based on anonymous interviews with 50 heads of sustainability teams in companies spanning from multi-nationals to SMEs, and surveyed an additional 400. While 80% feel their company is genuinely committed to sustainability efforts, 75% say sustainability teams are under-resourced. Less than a third of sustainability managers consider their company’s sustainability initiatives to be in line with the core commercial strategy of the business.

UK: The government this week called upon children’s services providers backed by social investment and those run as not-for-profits to come forward to set up children’s homes as it launched an overhaul of the children’s social care system. This follows criticism of excessive profits made by some private sector children’s homes providers by education secretary Bridget Phillipson. In response, Amelie Montague of UK’s social investment wholesaler, Better Society Capital, pointed out that its research had identified more than 70 organisations delivering high quality services for children in care, including SE100 prize winner We are Juno, and more than 60 investors providing relevant capital.

Movers and Shakers

• Jan Peloza, managing director of Impact Hub Ljubljana, is to join the board of Euclid Network. With a background in computer science, he has worked with youth support organisations and social enterprises for the past 15 years.
• UK social investor Impetus has appointed Bill Benjamin, partner and co-head of Ares Real Estate, as the new chair of its board, after seven years as a trustee of the organisation. He succeeds Hanneke Smits, CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management, who held the position for the past six years.
• Catalyst 2030 has appointed 12 new members to its governing council. They include Mauricio Parili, CEO of Aprendo y Emprendo, an organisation that creates opportunities for young people by giving them leadership skills and help them start their social enterprise in Venezuela, Olivier Nkunzurwanda, CEO and founder of the Refugee Innovation Centre in Uganda, and spanish entrepreneur David Parejo, co-founder of ICI Network. 

Figure of the week: £2.7m. That’s the amount invested by Big Issue Invest in 13 social purpose organisations in the past 12 months, according to its latest impact report. The social investor now numbers 145 enterprises in its portfolio and manages £68m, reaching an estimated 1.8m people.