Radical Truth

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Trillions of dollars have poured into ESG and impact investing. So why do we have more pollution, more inequality, and accelerating biodiversity loss than when we started?

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with B. Lorraine Smith — writer, researcher, speaker, and one of the most clear-eyed critics of mainstream sustainability. After two decades working with global players in banking, mining, energy, chemicals, food, agriculture, retail, and tech — leading ESG strategy, investor communications, and executive engagement — Lorraine concluded that not only were we not solving the problems, we were making them worse. She stopped working in mainstream sustainability and ESG in 2021. B. Lorraine SmithHer vision is an economy where all businesses, across all industry sectors, can only succeed by enabling society and the biosphere to thrive. B. Lorraine SmithHer radical truth: ESG is not a solution. It is a distraction dressed up in the language of progress.

In this episode:

• Why tens of trillions in ESG capital have failed to bend the curve on climate, biodiversity, water, poverty, or inequality
• What the difference actually is between sustainability, ESG, and genuine regenerative investment
• Why most ESG frameworks measure the wrong things — and what measuring the right things would require
• What a regenerative economy looks like in practice — and why it demands a fundamentally different relationship between business, finance, and the living world
• Why circularity is not the same as regeneration — and why the distinction matters enormously for investors
• What it takes for corporate leaders and investors to move beyond "sustainability as usual"

The key insight: Despite billions invested in ESG initiatives, we have more pollution, inequality, and biodiversity loss. B. Lorraine SmithThe problem is not a lack of capital or intention — it is that the frameworks guiding that capital were never designed to create the outcomes they promise. Regenerative investment is not a tweak to the existing model. It is a different model entirely.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — The ESG paradox: more money, worse outcomes
• 0:X:XX — What two decades inside corporate sustainability taught Lorraine
• 0:X:XX — The difference between ESG, sustainability, and regeneration
• 0:X:XX — Why circularity is not enough
• 0:X:XX — What regenerative investment actually demands of investors
• 0:X:XX — Where the real signals of change are emerging

👤 About B. Lorraine SmithB. Lorraine Smith worked with global corporations across banking, mining, energy, food, agriculture, retail, and technology for over two decades, leading ESG strategy, stakeholder dialogue, and executive engagement across multiple regions. S B. Lorraine Smithhe sits on the Board of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and is a member of the Release Council of the Future-Fit Business Benchmark. S Biodiversity for a Livable Climatehe is based in Montréal and speaks French, Portuguese, and German. John Elkington of Volans describes her as one of the most thoughtful colleagues he has worked with in decades in the sustainability field.

For anyone who suspects that ESG is not delivering what it promises — and wants to understand what would — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#BLorraineSmith #RegenerativeInvestment #ESG #ImpactInvesting #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #RegenerativeEconomy #SustainableFinance #BeyondESG #IndustrialHealing #SystemsChange #Sustainability #ClimateFaith #BiodiversityLoss #RadicalTruth

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What happens when a 350-year-old bank — still owned by the founding family — decides that capitalism must be redeemed from the inside?

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Alexander S. Hoare — Partner and Director at C. Hoare & Co., the first of the eleventh generation of the family to join the partnership, and a founder partner of Snowball LLP, a leader in the field of social and impact investing. HoaresbankFounded in 1672 by Sir Richard Hoare, C. Hoare & Co. is the UK's oldest privately owned bank — still run on an unlimited liability partnership model, still family-owned, and still guided by a founding ambition: to be good bankers and good citizens. Alexander's life work has been to demonstrate that you don't have to descend to the unacceptable face of capitalism to earn an honest crust. Spears 500His radical truth: impact is not optional — it is what banking was always supposed to be.

In this episode:

• How a 350-year family banking legacy shapes Alexander's personal approach to capital and responsibility
• How in 2010 Alexander began a portfolio of impact investments through the Golden Bottle Trust, leading to the co-founding of Snowball in 2016 Hoaresbank— a diversified fund where every investment targets both positive impact and financial returns
• Why Snowball is structured as a B Corporation, owned entirely by charitable or public benefit capital providers, with no incentive to greenwash
• What it means for a fund to target all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals simultaneously across a multi-asset portfolio
• How Alexander bridges the worlds of traditional private banking and frontier impact investing — and what he has learned from both
• What sophisticated investors need to understand before entering the impact space — and what most still get wrong

The key insight: In 2017, Alexander predicted that "social investment will be redundant within a generation as all investments will have impact built in." GrokipediaA bank that survived the South Sea Bubble, two world wars, and the 2008 financial crisis has a particular vantage point on what endures. The Hoare family's wager is that the institutions which will still be standing in another 350 years are those that put people and planet first — not last.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — 350 years of banking and one founding principle
• 0:X:XX — Alexander's personal journey into impact investing
• 0:X:XX — The Golden Bottle Trust and the birth of Snowball
• 0:X:XX — How Snowball works: structure, mission, and returns
• 0:X:XX — What sophisticated investors need to understand about impact
• 0:X:XX — The future: will all investment have impact built in?

👤 About Alexander S. HoareAlexander Hoare is the first of the eleventh generation of C. Hoare & Co. partners. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a B.Com (Hons) in Marketing, worked as a marketing consultant at PA Consulting Group, and served as Chief Executive of C. Hoare & Co. from 2001 to 2009. H PitchBooke is a patron of Royal Trinity Hospice and chairs the trustees of Intermission Youth Theatre. H Hoaresbanke is ranked in the Spear's 500 Top 100 Power List for 2025 as a pioneer in social and impact investing.

For anyone who believes that finance can be a force for genuine good — and wants to understand what that looks like in practice across centuries — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#AlexanderHoare #CHoareAndCo #SnowballImpact #ImpactInvesting #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #PrivateBanking #ESG #FamilyBusiness #GoldenBottleTrust #ResponsibleInvesting #SustainableFinance #Philanthropy #SDGs #RadicalTruth

America's criminal justice system is cruel, expensive, racist, and broken. One lawyer decided she could no longer save people one by one — and went to find the constituency powerful enough to change the system itself.

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Celia Ouellette — dual US-UK qualified lawyer, former death row defence attorney, and founder of the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ). Celia spent a decade practising as a defence attorney, primarily on capital cases across the United States, constantly fighting a criminal justice system she found cruel, expensive, racist, and broken. Despite working to save people from execution, she could only help individuals one at a time. Real LeadersHer radical truth: saving people one by one is not enough. The only way to fix a broken system is to mobilise the one constituency that lawmakers cannot ignore — business.

In this episode:

• What Celia witnessed first-hand as a death row defence attorney — and the moment she decided systemic change required a different strategy
• How RBIJ works with companies to use their voice, resources, and hiring practices to drive criminal justice reform in the US and UK
• How RBIJ launched Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty at SXSW in 2021, bringing together more than 250 international business leaders including Sir Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Marc Benioff, and Arianna HuffingtonReal Leaders- Why criminal justice reform is not just a moral issue — it is an economic one, with the US losing an estimated $87 billion in GDP annually by under-employing people with records
• What "Clean Slate" legislation, occupational licensing reform, and fair-chance hiring actually mean in practice — and how businesses can move these campaigns
• What the role of investors and ESG frameworks should be in internalising human rights within systems of justice

The key insight: Since founding, RBIJ has activated over 600 businesses across 91 campaigns and programmes, partnering with some of the world's most recognised brands. RBIJThe criminal justice system does not exist "on the side" of business — it shapes the talent pool, the community, and the economy every company operates in. When business speaks, lawmakers listen.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — From death row defence to systemic reform
• 0:X:XX — Why business is the missing lever in criminal justice change
• 0:X:XX — Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty
• 0:X:XX — Fair-chance hiring and Unlock Potential
• 0:X:XX — What investors and ESG frameworks must do next

👤 About Celia OuelletteCelia Ouellette is a dual US-UK qualified lawyer who began her career in criminal defence in the United States before joining UK human rights charity Reprieve as a Staff Attorney on their death penalty team. In 2015 she founded The Powell Project, an organisation designed to empower and equip trial teams in capital cases. I RBIJn 2017 she founded RBIJ, which has since partnered with hundreds of companies worldwide to advance fairness and equality in systems of punishment and incarceration.

Real LeadersFor anyone who believes that the 'S' in ESG must include criminal justice — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#CeliaOuellette #RBIJ #CriminalJusticeReform #ESG #ImpactInvesting #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #FairChanceHiring #DeathPenalty #HumanRights #ResponsibleBusiness #CleanSlate #JusticeReform #SocialJustice #RadicalTruth

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In October 2005, a 150-page legal document was quietly rolled into a UN chamber in New York. Twenty years later, it remains the foundation on which the entire ESG investment industry was built.

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Professor Paul Q. Watchman — the Scottish lawyer who, as Senior Partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, led the pro bono team that produced The Freshfields Report for UNEP Finance Initiative. The report is credited with revolutionising market practice on the legality of integrating ESG considerations into the investment decision-making of pension funds and other investment houses, and has been said to be the most downloaded report in UN history. Law Society of Scotland Paul Watchman was the first inductee into the TBLI Hall of Fame in 2020. His radical truth: ESG is not optional — it is a fiduciary obligation.

In this episode:

• Why the Freshfields Report concluded that integrating ESG into investment analysis is not just permissible — but arguably required
• How the 2008 financial crash accelerated ESG mainstreaming after years of slow adoption
• How fiduciary duty has evolved since 2005 — and what the 2016 Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century report added
• Why governance must permeate the entire ESG framework — not just bookend it
• What Paul saw as the greatest threat to ESG's credibility: greenwashing by corporations, asset managers, and Big Law
• What still needs to happen for ESG to fulfil the promise of the Freshfields Report

The key insight: Before the Freshfields Report, pension funds routinely argued that fiduciary duty prevented them from considering ESG factors. Paul Watchman demolished that argument with legal rigour across nine jurisdictions. The report concluded that integrating ESG considerations into investment analysis to more reliably predict financial performance is clearly permissible and arguably required in all jurisdictions. GRC World Forums The question was never whether ESG was legal. The question was whether the industry had the courage to act on it.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — The 2005 UN chamber and the document that changed everything
• 0:X:XX — What UNEP FI asked Freshfields — and why the answer mattered
• 0:X:XX — From Glasgow housing lawyer to ESG's legal architect
• 0:X:XX — The 2008 crash and the slow mainstreaming of ESG
• 0:X:XX — Greenwashing: Paul's biggest concern for ESG's future

👤 About Professor Paul Q. WatchmanPaul Watchman was named by Ethical Corporation alongside Hank Paulson as one of the six most influential global figures in sustainable finance, and received the Thomson Reuters ESG Leadership Award for Outstanding Contribution to ESG in 2010. Law Society of Scotland He began his legal career in Glasgow acting for the homeless and victims of domestic violence, before becoming a Partner at Freshfields. New Earth Lawyer He served as Special Legal Counsel to UNEP Finance Initiative for nearly 20 years, and in 2020 became the first inductee into the TBLI Hall of Fame. Professor Watchman passed away in 2023. This episode is a tribute to his life's work.

Essential listening for anyone who wants to understand where ESG came from — and what it was always meant to be.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years. 🌐 tbligroup.com

#PaulWatchman #FreshfieldsReport #ESG #FiduciaryDuty #UNEPFI #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #ResponsibleInvestment #SustainableFinance #ESGLaw #UNPRI #Greenwashing #ESGHistory #ImpactInvesting #SustainableInvesting

Everyone knows Bhutan as the "happiest country in the world." But what if that story is a carefully constructed myth — and behind it lies one of Asia's most ignored human rights crises?

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Dr. Rieki Crins — Dutch cultural anthropologist, one of the world's leading authorities on Bhutan, and the woman the Bhutanese government placed on its blacklist. Rieki first arrived in Bhutan in 1990, living in a remote village in the Paro district. What began as a 27-year love affair with the kingdom slowly became something far more troubling. MediumShe obtained her PhD on Gender and Sustainability in Bhutan at the University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, founded the Learning Exchange Foundation, and established the Bongde Institute of Hospitality and Tourism to support unemployed Bhutanese youth. WordpressHer radical truth: Gross National Happiness is a brand — and more than 120,000 people were expelled from the country it was built to sell.

In this episode:

• Why the Gross National Happiness narrative conceals systematic ethnic cleansing of the Lhotshampa — Bhutanese of Nepali descent
• How over 120,000 refugees ended up in camps in eastern Nepal — and why Bhutan simply ignored the crisis
• Why Rieki was blacklisted and declared persona non grata after decades of work in the country
• What she witnessed first-hand: citizenship cards confiscated, cultural rights denied, and a law allowing life imprisonment for anyone who speaks about the refugee issue
• What the international community got wrong about Bhutan — and why the Shangri-La image persists
• What accountability — and resolution — could actually look like for the displaced Lhotshampa community

The key insight: The Bhutanese government denied Southern Bhutanese — many of Nepalese descent — their culture and way of life, and having more than 100,000 people flee the country while acting as if the problem does not exist is a profound disgrace. MediumThe UN and western nations were left to manage the consequences of a crisis that Bhutan created and then refused to acknowledge.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — The myth of Gross National Happiness
• 0:X:XX — What Rieki saw from 1990 onwards
• 0:X:XX — The Lhotshampa: who they are and what happened to them
• 0:X:XX — Blacklisted: how Rieki became persona non grata
• 0:X:XX — What justice and accountability could look like

👤 About Dr. Rieki CrinsDr. Rieki Crins is a cultural anthropologist who has spent decades developing her expertise in Bhutan. She lectures at Oxford University, the University of Amsterdam, and the Siam Society in Bangkok, and is co-founder of TBLI Group together with her husband Robert Rubinstein. S Wordpresshe is the author of Blacklisted in Bhutan and Meeting the "Other", and founded the Learning Exchange Foundation in 2009 to support Bhutanese youth and cross-cultural exchange.

A conversation that challenges one of the most seductive narratives in modern geopolitics. Essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#Bhutan #GrossNationalHappiness #HumanRights #RiekiCrins #BhutaneseRefugees #Lhotshampa #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #RefugeeRights #Asia #Geopolitics #Anthropology #BlacklistedInBhutan #HumanRightsCrisis #RadicalTruth

What happens to a financial professional when the products they are asked to sell conflict with the values they actually hold? For many in finance, that tension is never spoken aloud. Dr. Giulio Franzinetti has spent 30 years living it — and now helps others navigate it.

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Dr. Giulio Franzinetti — Italian-born financial services veteran, personal coach, and serial innovator. His career spans Eurobond markets at Prudential Bache, capital markets, investment management in Asia at Indosuez, and International Fund Management Marketing at Banca Intesa. ContactOut Along the way, he worked on one of the most complex portfolio rationalisation challenges in the world — the Catholic Church — and founded the Gum Arabic Fund, an attempt to create a fair trade structure for one of the world's most essential and least understood commodities. His radical truth: the financial sector is full of talented, thoughtful people quietly selling things they don't believe in — and the cost of that silence is paid in more than just money.

In this episode:

• What it feels like to be a well-compensated professional asked to push products that conflict with your values — and what that does to a person over time
• What Dr. Franzinetti encountered working to rationalise the Catholic Church's investment portfolio — and what it revealed about institutional finance, faith, and accountability
• What the Gum Arabic Fund was, why he created it, and what it taught him about fair trade, commodity markets, and the gap between financial innovation and real-world impact
• Why so many financial sector professionals reach a crisis around meaning and alignment — and what they typically do (and don't do) about it
• What personal coaching for corporate and financial professionals actually involves — and why this sector needs it more than most

The key insight: The financial sector produces some of the most sophisticated thinkers in any industry. It also produces some of the most profound personal crises around meaning, identity, and integrity — quietly, invisibly, behind well-tailored suits. Giulio Franzinetti has been on both sides of that experience. Now he helps others find their way through it.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — The silent torment of selling what you don't believe in
• 0:X:XX — 30 years in finance: what Giulio saw and what it cost him
• 0:X:XX — The Catholic Church portfolio: faith, money, and complexity
• 0:X:XX — The Gum Arabic Fund: fair trade from the ground up
• 0:X:XX — What alignment between values and vocation actually looks like

👤 About Dr. Giulio FranzinettiDr. Giulio Franzinetti has over 30 years of experience across Eurobond markets, capital markets, investment management, and international fund management at Banca Intesa. Since 2017 he has been Managing Director of Executive Generation, his personal coaching and advisory practice for corporate and financial sector professionals. ContactOut He has served on boards of directors and advisory boards across multiple industries and is based in the UK.

For anyone in finance who has ever wondered whether there is another way — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#GiulioFranzinetti #FinancialWellbeing #ValuesAndFinance #ImpactInvesting #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #ExecutiveCoaching #ESG #GumArabicFund #FairTrade #CatholicChurch #BancaIntesa #PurposeDrivenFinance #CorporateCoaching #RadicalTruth

In June 1989, a biology student at Peking University walked out onto Changan Avenue and into history. Thirty-five years later, he is building the future of food — and still fighting for democracy.

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Shen Tong — Chinese dissident, Newsweek Person of the Year 1989, exiled student leader of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement, and serial impact investor with more than 200 investments across regenerative agriculture, healthy food, health and wellness, Web3, and deep tech ventures. WikipediaAfter imprisonment and exile, Shen rebuilt himself as an entrepreneur and investor in the United States — and never stopped asking the harder questions about China, democracy, and the food systems that feed the world. His radical truth: the struggle for people's democracy and the struggle for a regenerative food system are the same struggle. Both are about who holds power, and who pays the price.

In this episode:

• What Shen witnessed on Changan Avenue on June 4, 1989 — and what exile taught him about power, resilience, and long-term change
• What China's political trajectory since 1989 reveals about the prospects for democracy — and what the West consistently gets wrong about the country
• Whether people's democracy is still possible in China — and what conditions could make it so
• What Food-X, FoodFutureCo, and TheFutureCo are building — and why he has focused his investment lens on regenerative agriculture, healthy food, and food system transformationWikipedia- What the most promising innovations in food technology actually are — and which ones are hype
• What the connection is between political freedom, food sovereignty, and impact investing

The key insight: Shen Tong founded the Democracy for China Fund in 1990, emphasising building international solidarity for civil society development and rule-of-law reforms rather than direct confrontation. GrokipediaDecades later, his approach to food systems reflects the same philosophy: work at the roots, build coalitions, invest in what is regenerative rather than extractive. From Tiananmen to the food supply chain — the principles do not change.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — June 4, 1989: what Shen saw and what it cost him
• 0:X:XX — Exile, reinvention, and the Democracy for China Fund
• 0:X:XX — China today: politics, power, and prospects for democracy
• 0:X:XX — Why food became his arena for impact
• 0:X:XX — Food-X, FoodFutureCo, and the future of food systems
• 0:X:XX — What regenerative food investment actually looks like

👤 About Shen TongShen Tong completed his undergraduate degree at Brandeis University after exile and went on to study PhD programmes at Boston University and Harvard University. He became a serial entrepreneur in the 1990s, co-founding B&B Media and VFinity, before founding Food-X in 2014 and FoodFutureCo in 2015. H ACG Globale appeared in the 2019 PBS/BBC documentary Tiananmen: The People Versus the Party and in The Exiles, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2022. H Wikipediae is a board member of Food Tank and author of the memoir Almost a Revolution.

For anyone who wants to understand where China is heading — and where our food systems must go — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#ShenTong #Tiananmen #ChinaDemocracy #FoodFutureCo #FoodX #ImpactInvesting #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #RegenerativeAgriculture #FoodTech #FoodSystems #ChineseDissident #Democracy #FoodTank #RadicalTruth

What if the green energy revolution is not saving the planet — but just replacing one form of destruction with another? And what if the people saying so are lifelong environmentalists?

In this special panel episode of TBLI Radical Truth, Robert Rubinstein convenes an expert discussion around Planet of the Humans — the incendiary documentary directed by Jeff Gibbs and executive produced by Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the mainstream environmental movement, questioning its leaders' decision to partner with billionaires and corporations, and challenges the idea that renewable energy technology is the solution to climate change. WikipediaIt claims the carbon footprint of renewable energy is comparable to fossil fuels when taking into account all stages of production — and argues that "less must be the new more" if humankind is to survive. WikipediaThe film has been praised by some, condemned by climate scientists as dangerously misleading, and watched by millions. Our panel is here to go further than the controversy — and ask what is actually true.

In this episode:

• What Planet of the Humans gets right — and what it gets dangerously wrong
• Whether the lifecycle carbon footprint of wind, solar, and nuclear is truly comparable to fossil fuels — and what the science actually showsNiskanen Center- Whether infinite economic growth on a finite planet is possible — and whether degrowth is a realistic policy framework or a fantasy
• What the film's treatment of biomass, corporate greenwashing, and Big Green reveals that mainstream environmentalism still refuses to confront
• Whether wind and solar, combined with storage, can realistically replace fossil fuels at scale — and what the honest timeline looks like
• What the film's reception reveals about how the climate movement handles uncomfortable internal criticism
• What humanity's actual options are — and which uncomfortable truths the panel believes we can no longer afford to avoid

The key insight: Planet of the Humans rightly argues that infinite growth on a finite planet is "suicide" — but its bogus claims about renewable energy risk overshadowing that message. The ConversationThe film's greatest service may not be its specific arguments — many of which rely on outdated data — but its provocation: that the environmental movement has become too comfortable, too corporate, and too reluctant to question its own sacred cows. That conversation is long overdue.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — What Planet of the Humans actually argues
• 0:X:XX — What the science says about renewable energy's carbon footprint
• 0:X:XX — Growth, degrowth, and the limits of the planet
• 0:X:XX — Corporate capture of the environmental movement
• 0:X:XX — What wind, solar, and storage can and cannot deliver
• 0:X:XX — What humanity must do — and what it will actually do

👤 About Jeff GibbsJeff Gibbs is the director, writer, and producer of Planet of the Humans, born in Flint, Michigan. A long-time collaborator with Michael Moore, he co-produced Fahrenheit 9/11 — the largest box-office documentary of all time — and has been, since then, singularly focused on the fate of the Earth and humanity. * LastborninthewildernessPlanet of the Humans* has been viewed over eight million times on YouTube.

For anyone who cares about the future of the planet — and is willing to sit with uncomfortable questions — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#PlanetOfTheHumans #JeffGibbs #MichaelMoore #RenewableEnergy #ClimateChange #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #Degrowth #Sustainability #ClimateDebate #SolarEnergy #WindEnergy #ESG #GreenEconomy #RadicalTruth

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What if the most radical thing a business could do is refuse to grow? What if hacking a company's security systems and hacking the logic of venture capitalism require exactly the same mindset?

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Dr. Melanie Rieback — professional hacker, cybersecurity pioneer, and one of the most provocative social entrepreneurs in Europe. She is CEO and co-founder of Radically Open Security, the world's first not-for-profit cybersecurity company, and of Nonprofit Ventures, a Post Growth startup incubator. She teaches Post Growth Entrepreneurship at the University of Amsterdam Business School and is a Fellow of the Post Growth Institute. SingularityRadically Open Security donates 90% of its profits to NLnet — a foundation supporting open internet and digital rights — and has donated over one million euros to date. SURFHer radical truth: business is one of the most effective forms of activism. And the Silicon Valley model is not a feature — it is a bug.

In this episode:

• Why after 15 years building privacy-enhancing technologies, Melanie concluded she was "building technological band-aids for business model problems" — and decided to fight business models with business modelsSecurityinnovationstories- What is fundamentally broken about the Silicon Valley exponential growth model — and who it actually serves
• What Post Growth Entrepreneurship is — and how Doughnut Economics, Degrowth, and Steward Ownership provide the framework for a different kind of company
• How Radically Open Security serves Google, Mozilla, and the Dutch government while also working at cost-price for Greenpeace, Oxfam, and free-speech organisations for refugees of authoritarian countriesSecurityinnovationstories- What it means to treat business as art — and what it would take for more founders to make that leap

The key insight: When Melanie told a venture capitalist she would donate 90% of profits to charity, he said: "Either you are crazy or you are a genius." SURFTen years later, the company is thriving — a preferred vendor to governments and global NGOs, built without a single euro of venture capital and without ever compromising its mission. The Silicon Valley model is not the only model. It is just the one with the best marketing.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — "We need to fight business models with business models"
• 0:X:XX — What is broken about the exponential growth curve
• 0:X:XX — How Radically Open Security was built — and why it works
• 0:X:XX — Post Growth Entrepreneurship: the framework
• 0:X:XX — Business as activism. Business as art.

👤 About Dr. Melanie RiebackDr. Melanie Rieback is a former Assistant Professor at the Free University of Amsterdam, where she developed the RFID Virus and RFID Guardian, winning IEEE Percom Best Paper and USENIX Lisa Best Paper awards. She previously led ING Bank's Cyber Crime Expertise and Response Team. S SafetyDetectiveshe was named Most Innovative IT Leader of the Netherlands by CIO Magazine in 2017, and one of the 9 Most Innovative Women in the European Union in 2019.

SingularityFor anyone who suspects that the problem with capitalism is its business model — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#MelanieRieback #RadicallyOpenSecurity #PostGrowth #SocialEntrepreneurship #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #DegrowthEconomics #StewardOwnership #DoughnutEconomics #BusinessActivism #Cybersecurity #NonprofitVentures #SiliconValley #ImpactInvesting #RadicalTruth

The financial system is the most powerful force on Earth. It can accelerate the climate crisis — or fund the solutions. It can entrench poverty and inequality — or dismantle them. The question is not whether finance shapes the world. The question is: who decides how?

TBLI Radical Truth is the podcast that cuts through the noise, the greenwash, and the comfortable half-truths of mainstream finance. Hosted by Robert Rubinstein — founder of TBLI Group, the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — this show brings together the thinkers, investors, activists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and whistleblowers who are asking the questions that the financial sector would rather not answer.

TBLI Group is a renowned global network dedicated to sustainable finance and investment, empowering investors to achieve financial returns while making a positive social and environmental impact. TBLI Group Founded in Amsterdam in 1998, TBLI has spent over 25 years mobilising capital for ESG and impact investing — advising the European Commission, organising the world's leading responsible investment conference, and building a global community of investors who believe that a truly sound investment provides not just financial rewards, but social and environmental ones too. Wikipedia

In each episode, Robert sits down with thought leaders — some famous, some not yet — for honest, unscripted conversations about the real state of sustainable finance. No promotional fluff. No comfortable consensus. Just radical truth.

What we cover:

• What ESG and Impact Investing actually are — and what they are not
• Why tens of trillions in sustainable capital have not yet bent the curve on climate, inequality, or biodiversity loss
• How to integrate sustainability into asset management, portfolio construction, and fiduciary duty
• How climate change is already repricing assets — and what investors are still ignoring
• The voices challenging growth, extractive capitalism, and the financial status quo
• The innovators building the new financial architecture: regenerative investment, steward ownership, community currencies, post-growth entrepreneurship, and more
• Human rights, criminal justice, food systems, cybersecurity, geopolitics — because the 'S' in ESG is not optional

The big question we keep returning to: Can we create an economy based on wellbeing — not just wealth? Can the financial system be made to work for all people, all species, and all future generations?

TBLI puts forward the notion that a truly sound investment is one that provides not just financial rewards, but social and environmental ones too. Speakers Academy After 25 years of building that case, Robert Rubinstein is still not done making it — because the stakes have never been higher.

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