The Week in impact investing: Toppled
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The Week in impact investing: Toppled
TGIF, Agents of Impact!
Toppled icons. Along with historical statues, this week saw the toppling of other archaic icons of an order in decline. Investors and activists took sledgehammers to two fossil fuel pipelines, as Dominion Energy and Duke Energy walked away from the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and a federal judge ordered the emptying of the $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, a rare shutdown of an operating pipeline. Carbon-intensive installations are toppling worldwide. Spain last month shut down half of its remaining coal-fired power plants; Recent solar projects in Australia, China, the UAE and elsewhere have achieved a levelized cost below $30 per megawatt hour (down from more than $300 a decade ago), meaning building new solar capacity is cheaper than operating many existing coal and gas plants. Toppled!
Toppling as well are conceptual structures from another era that no longer serve the social good. Even before the COVID crisis, the false idol of ‘shareholder primacy’ was being pulled from its pedestal. Rising in place is a stakeholder economy that creates value for employees, suppliers, consumers and communities as well as investors. But relics of the old order stubbornly persist. Take the canard that the stock market casino represents investment in the real economy. Or that the fiduciary duty of pension fund managers excludes consideration of environmental, social and governance factors, as the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed guidance suggests. And while we’re toppling racist monuments, let’s uproot assumptions, biases and practices that have distorted finance and investing, including impact investing itself. See below for some Agents of Impact who have worked for years to topple such inequity.
– David Bank, editor
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The Week's Impact Briefing (podcast)
Impact Briefing. Our weekly podcast is back. Monique Aiken engages David Bank about toppling structures and systems, and introduces a few of the leaders dismantling racism in finance and investing, this week’s Agents of Impact. Plus, the headlines. Tune in, share, and follow us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Week's Agents of Impact
Agents of Impact toppling systemic racism in finance. The movement for racial justice in the criminal justice system has cast a spotlight as well on systemic and anti-Black racism in finance. Long before the protests, ImpactAlpha has featured Agents of Impact and New Revivalists doing the work of changing assumptions, practices and power structures within finance and investing. They are dismantling age-old excuses, biases and malpractices, including within impact investing itself, that lead to inefficient allocation of capital, underfunded founders of color and unrealized solutions to community needs. “This moment doesn't doesn't create an opportunity,” said Illumen Capital’s Daryn Dodson, who is helping fund managers mitigate their implicit biases. “It reveals an opportunity that was always there.” Other Agents:
Capital Impact Partners’ Ellis Carr is demonstrating affordable housing, schools, healthcare and grocery stores that serve low-income communities are not as risky as often perceived by outside capital.
Brian Dixon and Kapor Capital are outperforming in venture capital by betting on the lived experience of underrepresented founders to close opportunity gaps for communities of color.
Impact America Fund’s Kesha Cash is on the hunt for companies capturing billion-dollar markets by better serving America’s overlooked communities.
1863 Venture’s Melissa Bradley and CapEQ’s Tynesia Boyea-Robinson are wrapping support around Black and Brown-owned businesses to create jobs and wealth.
Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital is redefining who writes the checks in venture capital – and who receives them.
And Common Future’s Rodney Foxworth is speaking truth to power and positioning community leaders to help investors deploy their capital for impact. – Dennis Price
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