Inside Impact Investing (Triodos Investment Management)

COVID-19 and the subsequent social and economic crises have underlined once more that we must urgently address the severe shortcomings in our present-day economies and societies. We must intensify our efforts to combat climate change, loss of biodiversity, and rising inequality, and build an economy that is fit for the future: one that is more resilient, more sustainable, and more inclusive.

Investors play a crucial role in the transition to this new economy, providing the capital needed to realise real and profound change. The investment choices they make can have a positive impact on our planet and on society, and at the same time safeguard their chances of solid long-term investment returns.

In a series of articles and podcasts Hans Stegeman, Chief Investment Strategist at Triodos Investment Management, explores the contours of a future-proof economy, and the ways to get there.

In this first episode, Hans Stegeman and ecological economist Tim Jackson, author of the books 'Prosperity without Growth' and 'Post Growth', discuss the need for a new economic system:

• What could a sustainable economy look like and how to transition to such an economy
• How to mobilise the necessary capital for this transition
• The role of the financial sector in the transition

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COVID-19 and the subsequent social and economic crises have underlined once more that we must urgently address the severe shortcomings in our present-day economies and societies. We must intensify our efforts to combat climate change, loss of biodiversity, and rising inequality, and build an economy that is fit for the future: one that is more resilient, more sustainable, and more inclusive.

Investors play a crucial role in the transition to this new economy, providing the capital needed to realise real and profound change. The investment choices they make can have a positive impact on our planet and on society, and at the same time safeguard their chances of solid long-term investment returns.

In a series of articles and podcasts Hans Stegeman, Chief Investment Strategist at Triodos Investment Management, explores the contours of a future-proof economy, and the ways to get there. 

In this second episode, Hans Stegeman and William Burckart, President and COO of The Investment Integration Project and co-author of the book 21st Century Investing, discuss a new approach to investing to drive systemic change:

• Choosing the right transitions; a forward-looking approach in making investment decisions
• Impact first; contributing to positive change and thus mitigating risks, instead of the other way around
• The best asset classes to make impact.

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COVID-19 and the subsequent social and economic crises have underlined once more that we must urgently address the severe shortcomings in our present-day economies and societies. In a series of articles and podcasts Hans Stegeman, Chief Investment Strategist at Triodos Investment Management, explores the contours of a future-proof economy, and the ways to get there.

Investors play a crucial role in the transition to a new economy, providing the capital needed to realise real and profound change. The investment choices they make can have a positive impact on our planet and on society, and at the same time safeguard their chances of solid long-term investment returns.

In this third episode, Hans Stegeman and Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of the Club of Rome and co-author of the book "Quel monde pour demain", discuss the tools we have to bring about a system change and the role of the financial sector therein:

• What are the main trends in public and private investment, and what are the main gaps in the investment landscape
• Are we doing enough; European Green Deal, Bidens investment plan in the US
• How does regulation contribute to building a sustainable economy
• How can we transition from doing ‘less bad’ to regenerative/positive investments

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COVID-19 and the subsequent social and economic crises have underlined once more that we must urgently address the severe shortcomings in our present-day economies and societies. In a series of articles and podcasts Hans Stegeman, Chief Investment Strategist at Triodos Investment Management, explores the contours of a future-proof economy, and the ways to get there.

Investors play a crucial role in the transition to a new economy, providing the capital needed to realise real and profound change. The investment choices they make can have a positive impact on our planet and on society, and at the same time safeguard their chances of solid long-term investment returns.

In this fourth and last episode of the series Reset the economy, Hans Stegeman and Ulrika Hasselgren, Partner at sustainable intelligence company Arabesque and co-founder of Ethix SRI Advisors, discuss the tools we have to bring about a system change and the role of private capital therein:

• What is the biggest problem in the reset? Transparency, liquidity, regulation?
• What is needed, from an investor perspective, to make impact investing the new standard?
• How can we transition from doing less bad to regenerative/positive investments?
• What should be the contribution of impact investing to a reset of our economy?

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Emerging markets and developing countries are facing a dual challenge. These countries are particularly vulnerable to climate change because they lack the financial power to deal with climate change. At the same time, they also need a dependable and affordable energy supply to stimulate further socio-economic development. Up until 2030, the strongest growth in power demand is expected to come from non-OECD countries, due to population growth, economic development, and current electricity deficit.

In this podcast Hans Stegeman discusses the business case for investing in renewable energy projects in emerging countries with Angeles Toledo, Fund Manager at Triodos Investment Management.

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• How will central banks deal with rising inflation rates?
• What could happen in Ukraine and how would this affect markets?
• Hans's frustration of the month: the EU taxonomy

Disclaimer: This podcast episode was recorded before Russia started its attacks on Ukraine.

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In this special edition of Macro Monthly, investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss the economic and political implications of the war in Ukraine:

• What are the effects on financial markets?
• What is the macroeconomic impact?
• What does it mean for the energy transition?

As the conflict is still unfolding, it’s impossible to paint a complete picture. Although short-term effects are beginning to show, long-term implications depend largely on the length of the war and its aftermath. All we can say for sure is that the human tragedy is already enormous.

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• Inflation, interest rates, and investment
• How does the war in Ukraine affect the energy, resource and food transition?
• Hans’s frustration of the month: Arms and ESG

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• Why sustainability challenges can't be tackled without addressing inequality
• Hans's frustration of the month: inequality in the Metaverse
• Bet of the month: consumer trust figures and upcoming rate hikes

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• Policies to address tight labour markets
• Hans’ frustration of the month: the EC's proposal to sell carbon rights to pay for the energy transition
• Data of the month: the euro-dollar exchange rate

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• The phenomenon of bubbles: what is a bubble, and are they always bad?
• Hans’ frustration of the month: the stubborn belief in green growth.
• Data of the month: S&P 500 - will the bear market continue?

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Biodiversity loss is one of the most urgent and complex systemic risks we are currently facing. Hans Stegeman and Karin van Dijk, fund manager of ASN Biodiversity Fund, discuss the matter from the perspective of the financial sector. Their conclusion: the financial sector has a key role to play. Biodiversity is investable, and investing in it a must.

In this podcast, Hans and Karin discuss the following topics:

•  The problem of biodiversity loss
•  Which role can the financial sector play?
•  How do ASN and Triodos Investment Management approach the issue?
•  Practical dilemmas and concrete investment examples

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• The rising problem of energy and food poverty
• Hans’ frustration of the month: central banks’ monetary policies
• Data of the month: gas prices – will they increase further?

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Inequality is a pressing issue in today’s world, and the gap in the wealth and income distribution has reached unsustainable levels. In this episode Xavier Baeten, Professor of Management Practice in Reward & Governance at Vlerick Business School, Fabian Meijs, Investment Analyst and remuneration expert at Triodos IM, and Chief Investment Strategist Hans Stegeman discuss executive remuneration practices and how the trend of excessive CEO pay can be curbed.

In their discussion, they touch upon the following topics:

• Inequality: how is it linked to executive remuneration
• What is the impact of executive remuneration?
• Differences between different payment models
• Which remuneration approaches lead to a better company performance, both financially and on ESG level?
• The role of boards and finance committees in CEO compensation 

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• Hans’ frustration of the month: trickle-down policies in the UK
• Recessions and wellbeing: what is a recession and what does it mean for the average person? Are recessions in advanced economies different from recessions in emerging markets?
• Data of the month: the Italian spread - higher or lower, after the election outcome?

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From a niche, ESG investing has quickly become mainstream. More recently, impact investing is also gaining traction. Are they the solution to the many challenges we are facing - inequality, loss of biodiversity, climate change? Are we on the right track and will we be able to allocate enough capital to finance the necessary transitions?

These are the questions that Sasja Beslik, Chief Investment Strategy Officer at SDG Impact Japan and Chief Investment Strategist Hans Stegeman discuss in a new episode of our podcast series Inside Impact Investing.

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• Hans’ frustration of the month: the IMF's view on climate policies
• Who is the boss: who will steer the (world) economy in the coming months: Central Banks? Governments? Xi Jinping? Or Putin?
• Data of the month: how wil the ECB rate develop?

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Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion.

In this episode:

• Hans’ frustration of the month: crazy but influential people
• Looking back on 2022 and forward to 2023 - will it be another year of polycrisis?
• Bet of the month: who is the overall winner of the year?

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Impact investing is gaining ground rapidly. With capital inflows growing and regulation increasing, there is a need for clear definitions and standard practices in impact management and measurement (IMM). In this episode, fund manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses some essential questions with IMM experts Sasha Zoueva, Director of Strategic Learning and Impact at the Rockefeller Foundation and Rebecca Spohrer, Impact Manager at Triodos Investment Management: What is impact, exactly? Can it be measured and managed? What do regulators expect from us? What are the challenges and what is the quality of current impact data?

Useful links

Operating Principles for Impact Management: https://www.impactprinciples.org/9-principles

Impact Management Platform: https://impactmanagementplatform.org/

GIIN’s IRIS+ taxonomy: https://iris.thegiin.org/

The Social Value International principles: https://www.socialvalueint.org/principles

Theory of Change: https://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/ten-steps/

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The EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which has taken effect in March 2021, was one of the first regulatory initiatives stemming from the 2018 EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan. It is a sustainability-related disclosure framework for financial market participants and financial advisers focusing on the integration of sustainability risk and the consideration of adverse sustainability impact in the investment process. Since the implementation there has been criticism on its effect. In 2023, the European Commission therefor initiated a consultation on the SFDR. 

Both the Dutch financial market authority AFM and Triodos IM published a position paper on how to improve the SFDR. In this podcast episode, Portfolio Manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the overlap and the differences between the two positions with Zoë du Chattel, Senior Supervision Officer at AFM and Hadewych Kuiper, Managing Director at Triodos Investment Management.

One of the conclusions is that both the AFM and Triodos IM are in favor of a minimum level of disclosure for all funds to create a level-playing field and that both would like to convert the current transparency regime into a labelling regime so retail investors can easily see which product is more or less sustainable.

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Our current linear, growth-based economy uses vast quantities of resources to make things which we consume and then throw away. This system depletes finite raw materials and produces vast quantities of waste. In this episode of Inside Impact Investing, fund manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses how we can turn our linear economy into a circular one with Professor in Sustainable Business Nancy Bocken (Maastricht University) and Chief Economist Hans Stegeman (Triodos Bank). Together, they analyse the role of the financial sector in enabling this transition which goes against the logic of our current market economy and forces us to fundamentally rethink the logic of markets, including the role of investors therein.

Paper: Pursuing profitability in slow fashion

Fast fashion is a prime example of our current linear economy with a business model relying on consumers endlessly buying more clothes. Its circular opposite is slow fashion, which embodies products that are made to last, and can be serviced to extend the lifespan. But can slow fashion also be profitable? Read the paper by Nancy Bocken and Sasha Sarokin.

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In this podcast episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the challenges of impact performance reporting with Mike McCreless, Executive Director at Impact Frontiers, and Rebecca Spohrer, Impact Manager at Triodos Investment Management.

How to report on impact is a much-debated topic within the impact investing industry. To create a common ground for impact reporting, Mike McCreless's Impact Frontiers have created a set of impact reporting norms, based on a public consultation. Together with Triodos Impact Manager Rebecca Spohrer, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses these norms and how they were developed as well as the general challenges and pitfalls of Impact Reporting.

Impact Frontiers' impact reporting norms can be found here

Triodos IMs 2023 impact reports can be found here

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In this podcast episode, Karel Nierop discusses what's behind the net zero commitments of the financial sector with Quinten Aubineau, Policy Analyst at bank Track, and Sven Renon, Impact Manager at Triodos Bank.

Since the Paris climate agreement, most banks and asset managers have committed themselves to a net zero strategy to be in line with a 1,5-degree global warming scenario. But what does net zero exactly mean? And why is it important for financial institutions to have a net zero strategy in place? Quinten Aubineau explains that having a net zero goal is nice but having a concrete action plan in place to get there is even more important. Sven Renon elaborates on the challenges Triodos Bank is facing on the road to net zero.

More information about Triodos Bank's net zero strategy can be found here

More information about Bank Track can be found here

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This podcast episode focuses on two pieces of European legislation aimed at supporting the low-carbon transition: the EU Taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard. Green bonds play an important role in financing the assets needed for the green transition. With the European Green Bond Standard, the EU wants to set a clear standard for green bonds, based on the detailed criteria of the EU taxonomy to define green economic activities.

Portfolio Manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the ins and outs of both policies and how they work in practice with Esther Griffioen, Deputy head of Policy and Risk Management at the Dutch State Treasury Agency and Jie Chen, Investment Analyst at Triodos Investment Management - covering both the issuers’ and the investors’ side of green bonds.

More information about the EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities can be found here

More information about the EU Green Bond Standard can be found here

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