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Private equity firm TPG recently announced it had raised $7.3 billion for its climate-focused impact fund, one of several such funds it has launched since 2016, making it "one of the biggest private equity firms to offer an alternative to pure profit-seeking," per the Financial Times.
But critics aren't so sure impact investing, which seeks to do good while generating a profit, is all it's cracked up to be.
The World Bank's International Finance Corporation has called on asset managers to disclose how they define and measure the social or environmental impact they claim to produce alongside financial returns, and the European Securities and Markets Authority has proposed that funds using "impact" in their names must make clear how they generate a positive and measurable social or environmental impact alongside a financial return.
"The returns on renewable energy projects are pretty low these days, partly because they are very low risk," a Columbia Business School professor tells Bloomberg.
"Some of these sectors, like renewable energy, have become so successful that it becomes challenging to get those returns," he adds.
" private equity firms offering impact investments must now address concerns about greenwashing, too.
The Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group, a body that advises Esma, said in January that firms offering impact funds should 'only Read the Entire Article
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
Foundation: Marguerite Casey Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Kresge Foundation
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Foundation: Indianapolis Foundation
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Foundation: Gates Foundation
Melinda French Gates is stepping down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which she founded with her ex-husband Bill Gates more than 20 years ago. As part of an agreement made...more
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Deforestation in south-east Asia could slash the region's GDP by 35%, according to a new report from Reuters. And that's not all. The report also finds that $100 billion pledged to fight...more
"At a time of multiple crises and scarce resources for development, this is a unique value proposition for governments everywhere." So says the head of the African Development Bank in praising...more
The People's Bank of China says it will start allowing people in China to use the country's new digital currency, the Digital Yuan, to buy goods and services starting next month, the BBC...more
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The world's biggest state investors are getting into the business of making positive social and environmental impact investments. Singapore's Temasek Holdings, one of the world's largest state...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver Backs Social Saturday
UK will be celebrating its first national celebration of social enterprises dubbed as Social Saturday. World famous celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who founded the Fifteen restaurant chain.
