This Week in Impact

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Navigating the fear and frenzy at Milken’s annual gathering of global capital players; how the war with Iran is a boon for renewable energy and the private equity that invests in it; and the strange bedfellows backing a company building floating data centers in the ocean.

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Story links:

• "⁠Renewable energy gains steam despite headwinds, as energy demand surges⁠,” by Amy Cortese and Erik Stein.
• "⁠Climate investors team with Peter Thiel to back ocean power startup Panthalassa⁠," by Amy Cortese

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editors Jessican Pothering and David Bank. Up this week: The latest in Africa’s carbon markets, from nature-based solutions to clean cooking; which wealthy athletes are getting into the impact investing game; and debriefing this week’s Mission Investors Exchange conference.

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• "⁠Outcomes and offtakes spur a 250,000-acre restoration project in South Africa⁠," by Jessica Pothering.
• "⁠Why has it been so hard to crack the code on clean cooking solutions⁠," by Jessica Pothering.
• “⁠Wealthy athletes are getting into the impact investing game⁠,” by Roodgally Senatus.
• “⁠Agents of Impact share new narratives and continued resolve at Mission Investors Exchange⁠,” by David Bank and Dennis Price

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: What’s significant about Uganda’s national pension fund’s effort to stand up a locally focused fund of funds; unraveling the controversy surrounding KKR’s lucrative employee ownership exit from CoolIT; and, unpacking the failure of the impact advisory firm Align Impact.

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For more on these stories:

• “⁠Let KKR do its thing while we convert thousands more companies to 100% employee ownership⁠,” by Aner Ben-Ami
• "⁠With shared ownership, $4.8 billion sale of CoolIT gives workers a cut of AI-driven gains⁠," by Roody Senatus
• "⁠Better financing can make employee ownership a game-changer for workers⁠," by Antony Bugg Levine
• “⁠Pension fund in Uganda readies a $100 million fund of funds to create jobs – and savers⁠,” by Lucy Ngige
• “⁠After 12 years, advisory firm Align Impact to shut down at the end of the month⁠,” by David Bank

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week:

• "⁠Dear Shareholders: Your votes and your voice are needed more than ever⁠," by As You Sow's Andrew Behar
• “⁠Impact investors seek to assert human agency over the future of AI⁠,” by David Bank and Dennis Price
• “⁠Collaboration Fund sparks a conversation around M&A in impact investing field-building⁠,” by David Bank and Amy Cortese

To try ImpactAlpha Edge for yourself, ⁠click here⁠.

Correction: Sorenson Impact Institute, not Foundation, is hosting the Collaboration Fund as well as the Webinar next week.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week:

• "⁠Conflict in the Middle East creates (even more) refugees in need of livelihoods, services and impact investment⁠," by Lucy Ngige.
• "⁠Valuing Aging" Agents of Impact Call⁠ (5:05).
• " ⁠Profit and punishment: The portfolio risks lurking inside private prisons⁠,"by Andrew Behar (10:45).

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week:

• "⁠How Anthropic’s standoff with the Pentagon is putting impact investors' AI thesis to the test in real time⁠," by David Bank.

• “⁠⁠Sharing wealth with workers creates value for private equity buyout firms. So why not share more?⁠⁠” by Roodgally Senatus. (10:15).

• “⁠⁠Six barriers keeping foundations from impact investing – and how to overcome them⁠⁠,” by Woodcock Foundation's Stacey Faella (17:55).

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank and producer Isaac Silk. Up this week: As the Trump administration steps back from domestic policy, how states are taking the lead on clean energy, the ownership economy, and AI regulation (09:25); Why smaller funds are leading to bigger returns in Africa (); And, the pivots of Mast Reforestation, as it seeks to sell removal credits on the voluntary carbon markets (14:15).

• ImpactAlpha's ⁠Policy Corner coverage⁠.
• “⁠Aruwa Capital has the data to make the case for small investment funds⁠,” by Lucy Ngige
• “⁠From planting trees to burying them, Mast Reforestation follows the market for carbon credits⁠,” by Isaac Silk

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Highlights from this week’s Agents of Impact Call on Shaping the Algorithm for good AI; how regional housing finance agencies in California are leveraging public funding to crowd private capital into affordable housing (12:20); and the emergence of local guarantee facilities for local investors in infrastructure in Africa and Asia (17:20).

Story links:

• ⁠Call roundup⁠
• “⁠Building regional engines for affordable housing in California⁠,” by Andrew Fremier, Ryan Johnson and Cody Petterson
• “⁠Local guarantees for local investors in infrastructure projects in Africa and Asia⁠,” by Lucy Ngige

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with Jessica Pothering, Dennis Price and Roodgally Senatus. Up this week: Jessica reports from Cape Town on how Africa’s mining industry is leveraging global demand for critical minerals; Dennis shares takeaways from his panel at the Urban Institute on what’s next for place-based investing (12:15); and, Roody reports from Philadelphia on Kensington residents are fostering neighborhood revival without gentrification and displacement (20:15).

Story links:

• "⁠Demand for critical minerals creates new opportunities to put Africa first⁠," by Jessica Pothering
• ⁠Dennis' Urban Institute panel⁠.
• "⁠In Philadelphia, Kensington Corridor Trust demonstrates a neighborhood-led model of revival without displacement⁠,” by Roodgally Senatus

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: How patient capital built India’s booming affordable home lending market; Nippon Life Insurance’s step-up to system-level investing in Japan (07:15); and, the push and pull behind growing interest in climate adaptation (13:20).

Story links:

• "⁠Key to India’s booming affordable home lending market: Patient capital⁠," by Shefali Anand
• “⁠With 'people x planet', Nippon Life Insurance steps up to system-level investing⁠,” by Erik Stein.
• “⁠Rising risks and returns on resilience are the push and pull for climate adaptation⁠,” by David Bank.