When Amit Bhatia quit his corporate job in 2007 to work on social and environmental issues, he created Aspire Impact and Aspire Circle.
Now he's created Impact Ratings, and he wants to make it easier for investors to assess companies' environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, Bloomberg reports.
"Currently, using the same publicly available information, ratings providers are reaching diametrically opposite conclusions about a company's ESG performance," Bhatia says.
"We are planning to apply to [the Securities and Exchange Commission] for approval of our ESG ratings; the process typically takes six months, and our ESG risk opportunity ratings, as against a blended rating given by other agencies, will be independent of the ratings given by other agencies."
The new ratings system will measure three key areas: performance in these three key areas, helping investors and stakeholders assess the sustainability, ethical impact, and long-term value of a company's assets; opportunity ratings will assess a company's ability to meet environmental, social, and governance needs, as well as its long-term value; and risk opportunity ratings will assess a company's ability to meet these needs, as well as its long-term value.
Bhatia, who quit his job to work on social issues,
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Nonprofit impact investing firm, Acumen, has invested $1.2 million to KZ Noir, a Rwanda-based coffee processing company owned by Kaizen Venture Partners. The investment will equip KZ Noir the funds for working capital, debt refinancing, and capacity expansion.