News and Views

INTERVIEW: One year after the EU’s Social Economy Action Plan was unveiled, a key architect of the plan tells us why consensus came quickly, why there may be a silver lining in today’s crises – and why his biggest fear is ‘blurred lines’ and social-washing.

Covid, war, economic downturn: impact investors are feeling the pinch this year. But will they retreat and focus on keeping existing portfolio companies alive and kicking, or can we feel optimistic about further growth?

A defiant Anna Gulevska-Chernysh tells of new business ideas, a growing fund – and a demo day during a blackout. Plus, investors with experience in other fragile states share hard-learned lessons.

The impact investment market still represents only 0.5% of the €17.8tn investment market in Europe – still not enough, warn EVPA and GSG, as they present the first harmonised market sizing of the continent.

IVPC and Laudes Foundation convened a group of 70 funders from across the continuum of capital on the sidelines of the COP27 meetings in Sharm el-Sheikh, to explore their role in raising the trillions of dollars urgently needed for climate action.

The global impact deals, reports and initiatives you need to know this month – all in one place: welcome to Pioneers Post's Impact Investing Newsflow. 

The institute launches this week in Brussels, together with landmark research on the Belgian market to kickstart Impact Week, which also includes the Ashoka Changemaker Summit and EVPA’s conference and C-Summit.

INTERVIEW: Most corporations getting into impact investing set up a special entity to do so. PayPal is doing it straight from its treasury. Joanne Gan tells us how it works, what they’ve learned – and why other firms could make a “bold commitment” too.

Solutions journalism as a tool to counter apathy, rebalancing business support, and how to overhaul your strategy: the editors' view from this week's Pioneers Post newsletter.