Digital Impact Investing event pushes for climate and inclusion change
The Phenix Digital Impact Symposium took place on September 14 to 15, bringing together institutional investor, asset owners and fund managers to engage in climate change and inclusion discussions. Attendees could interact live with experts, debating climate change mitigation and adaption, systemic social issues and how to contribute to a more resilient and prosperous future, especially considering the post pandemic recovery period.
Climate Change
Dirk Meuleman, Phenix Capital Group’s CEO, opened the event with the following message: “the key takeaway from this crisis is that we need to invest in an inclusive recovery”. Some experts, as Marie-Aimee Boury, Head of Impact Based Finance at Société Générale, went further and emphaticised “the need for a really disruptive change”.
Impact investment specialists agree with the urgency and benefits of taking action now. “We have got less than 10 years left, if we are going to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030”, alerted Karen Shackleton from Pensions for Purpose. “Protecting coastal wetlands could save the insurance industry roughly 50 billion in annual flood damage, highlighted Steffen Horter, Head of ESG at the Munich Re Investment Partners.
Reversing climate change requires quick action, including investments in clean energy, and that was the main message shared by Dewi Dylander, Deputy Executive Director from PKA (Pensionskassernes Administration), in her keynote speech “Investing for positive impact: hurdles on the way and how to address them”.
Some panel discussions challenged investors to act now. During the debate “Tackling climate change: public markets x private markets strategies”, Sean Gilbert, Director of Member Engagement and Capital Mobilization at Global Impact Investing Network, questioned asset owners. He invited them to respond: “how is that affecting or influencing your choices about investment decisions?”.
In order to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, immediate action is needed, as well highlighted Soňa Stadtelmeyer-Petrů, Global Head of Sustainable Investing at Allianz Investment Management SE, during her keynote speech “Where to from here? The decarbonisation pathway”. Carmel Lev, Strategies and Partnerships for the Global Infrastructure Facility at The World Bank, goes in the same direction, emphasizing that it is necessary to be “integrating ESGs to ensure that it’s not just an afterthought, but rather a driving force”.
Inclusion
The talks on inclusion were also very assertive, with a focus on the need to document and collect data. “Without data, we can’t measure and ask for change”, declared Emily Thomas, Executive Director, Senior Impact Strategist, Morgan Stanley. “If we are serious about diversity, it must go beyond discussions: money must go there”, complemented Barbara Rambousek, Director for Gender and Economic Inclusion at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Jessica Espinoza, Chair, 2X Challenge & Vice President, Private Equity & Venture Capital, at the DEG, KfW Group, observed that “gender equality, the sustainable development goal 5, is a catalyst for all the other SDGs”. Amelia Lopez Huix, Senior Advisor and Lead of the Target Gender Equality Programme at the Global Compact Network Netherlands, agrees: “now we know that investing in gender and diversity is not just the right thing to do, but it is also the smarter thing to do”.
Conclusion
The need for economy recovery worldwide is recognized, but investors want to see tangible results. Imad Fakhoury, Global Director of Infrastructure Finance at The World Bank, reminded us that “systems we put in place now can respond to future global shocks”. Jennifer Pryce, President and CEO of Calvert Impact Capital, underlined to investors their focus on the measurements with impact investments: “what is consistent is that we seek a financial, measurable and intentional impact return”, concluded the CEO.
Upcoming events:
Impact Seminar Series Public Markets – 27 October - Amsterdam
Impact Seminar Series Private Markets – 24 November -Amsterdam