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Practitioners and academics have been using different terms to describe investments in the sustainability context. The latest inflationary term is impact investments—investments that focus on real-world changes in terms of solving social challenges and/or mitigating ecological degradation. At the core of this definition is an emphasis on transformational changes. However, the term impact investment is often used interchangeably for any investment that incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects. In the latter instance, achieving transformational change is not the main purpose of such investments, which therefore carries the risk of impact washing (akin to “green washing”). To offer (re-)orientation from an academic perspective, we derive a new typology of sustainable investments. This typology delivers a precise definition of what impact investments are and what they should cover. As one central contribution, we propose distinguishing between impact-aligned investments and impact-generating investments. Based on these insights, we hope to lay the foundation for future research and debates in the field of impact investing by practitioners, policymakers, and academics alike.
The value of good health cannot however be defined only in monetary terms: it comprises one of the cultural backbones of our European civilisation,
one of the mainstays of European wellbeing. And in a Europe much more interconnected since the Lisbon treaty, Europeans enjoy freedom of movement to live, work and travel—and use healthcare resources along the way.
Health has been the
Cinderella in EU in the past years and now it is clear the value of a healthy life. #freshstart
In the article:
“Most are in the traditional CFO role, maximising shareholder value and profit, and the new profile is shifting
to a broader stakeholder model focused on establishing a sustainable economy,” mr. Haag says. This inevitably expands the role of the finance function. “Technology and decarbonisation are here to stay,” says Arabesque’s Mr Kell. “CFOs
need a more holistic understanding of the market system, and not just of the narrow field of finance.” Ready for the #freshstart ?
A century ago, the world finally put the 1918-20 influenza behind it. One of history's deadliest epidemics, following one of its deadliest armed conflicts, gave way to a decade that would be named for its economic abandon and social revolution — a decade of consumerism and frothy financial markets, of new music, art and fashion, of individual self-gratification and an embrace of freedom.
As the year turns, can we expect our century, too, to produce a Roaring Twenties? And, keeping in mind that the last iteration came crashing down with the Depression, is there anything we can do to ensure we enjoy the party without suffering the hangover?
The breakthrough development of several effective vaccines dangles the promise that we can indeed bring the coronavirus pandemic to an end in 2021. If that happens — and it is a big if, depending as it does not just on vaccine science but on governments' rapid rollout of large-scale vaccination programmes — then it is not far-fetched to think that the economic equivalent of a hundred-year wave could be followed by a once-in-a-century boom.
Dos and Donts from the post Spanish flu are presented in the article.
Where the savings of the past lockdown months will be spent or invested?