The Editor’s Post: 2025 will be the year of: the ‘Coca Cola risk’, AI, an end to conflict…?

Laura Joffre 17th January 2025

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As impact leaders ask for collective action, the Global South emerges as a driver of innovative solutions. Plus: will the supporters of a "new economy" turn their theory into reality soon enough? This week's view from the Pioneers Post newsroom.

Where should you focus your impact strategy this year? We asked social entrepreneurs, impact investors and network builders around the world what they would turn their attention to during the next 12 months. Their responses couldn’t be more varied: corporate greenwashing, investment in diverse-led businesses and AI – as an opportunity or a risk – are just a few of the topics they highlighted. That’s a good indication of the breadth of problems the world is currently facing – and the multitude of solutions the impact economy can provide.

One common denominator is a call to take action on the ground, and to do so collectively: coming together to tackle challenges more efficiently. 2025 won’t be a year to wait and see. (Remember when we used to say we needed to ‘take stock’ of something? That’s over.)

It was interesting to take a look back at the outlook for 2024 we published in January last year; some of the focus areas remain the same, such as conflicts and diversity, while others have completely fallen from the agenda (the UN Resolution on the Social Economy hasn’t really made any waves so far, and venture investing has been a big flop).

Among the responses we gathered this year, I was struck by a rising sense of agency in regions of the Global South, whether that’s Latin America, Asia or the Middle East. Those places are not asking for help, they’re the areas from which solutions will arise, and decision-makers and businesses in high-income countries should listen to what they have to say.

A new economy, but when?

Talking about changing the world, that’s also the mission of Partners for a New Economy, a ‘pooled fund’ that brings together some of the world's top foundations to provide grants to projects working towards redesigning the economy. Grantees include the Doughnut Economics Action Lab and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance.

My colleague Anna Patton interviewed their director, former UK politician Jo Swinson, and you’ll see Jo’s tone is very different from those of the impact leaders in the article mentioned above. More analytical, less urgent – no less committed to positive impact, but are these funders too disconnected from the action that is needed on the ground? Deep systems change needs designing, planning, and a big-picture perspective; there is no doubt the work of Partners for a New Economy is necessary. But in the face of the current crises, this needs to translate quickly into tangible action or I fear they will miss the opportunity to make a difference and all the donor money will be lost.

A good idea

This week we’re delighted to launch a new series with the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize, which celebrates and supports some of the UK’s best social impact pioneers (including Pioneers Post’s founder Tim West who was an awardee in 2023!). The Good Ideas collection will include features and podcasts profiling previous winners and the social impact they’re creating – dive into the first story here.