The Good Economy

🎙️🆕#Podcast: Regulations like the UK’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (#SDR) and the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (#SFDR) are shaping the future of sustainable finance - but they are not without their challenges. How can policymakers fine-tune these frameworks to better align with market needs? In the latest episode of Impact Europe's 'Electing Impact' podcast, The Good Economy's Ben Rosoman joins George Latham, Managing Partner at WHEB Asset Management, and host, Jana Bour, to explore: 🔍 Initial market insights on the implementation of SDR 🔍The lessons SDR offers for SFDR 🔍 How European policymakers might adapt as SFDR undergoes review This is a must-listen for anyone navigating the evolving landscape of sustainable finance and regulation. 🎧 Tune in to "SDR and SFDR with Ben Rosoman and George Latham": https://buff.ly/4f33gEk 🔗Explore The Good Economy's comprehensive yet flexible SDR Technical Support service designed to assist fund managers in achieving SDR compliance: https://lnkd.in/esBBfdPd #SustainableFinance #Regulation #Transparency #Greenwashing #Impact

🌍 Are Impact Investors Tracking Their Investments Effectively? A recent article in The Conversation U.S., co-authored by Lauren Kaufmann (University of Virginia) and Helet Botha (University of Michigan-Dearborn), highlights an important challenge in the impact investing field: many investors are not fully tracking whether their investments deliver real benefits for society or the environment. At The Good Economy, we agree with the authors that "having the intention of doing good by selecting the right assets doesn’t guarantee that you will". We see robust impact measurement and management as essential for ensuring investments achieve their intended outcomes. 🔗 Discover how we work with investors to manage impact risk and make impact count: https://buff.ly/42egbR5 #ImpactInvesting #ImpactMeasurement #Sustainability #GoodEconomy

💼 Unpacking the Growing Importance of Impact Assurance in Sustainability Regulation In the evolving landscape of sustainability regulation, the need for robust impact assurance mechanisms has never been more pressing. Recent initiatives, including the European Commission’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), underscore this shift, signalling a new era where transparency and accuracy in sustainability reporting are paramount. Just as shareholders expect a financial statement to be audited, we believe that stakeholders should expect the same rigour and external scrutiny to be applied to information about sustainability and impact. At The Good Economy, our qualified Associate Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioners (ACSAP), Larissa Kirkpatrick and Ben Rosoman, provide AA1000 Assurance – the global standard for sustainability and impact reporting. They help organisations meet international standards with robust, independently verified data, boosting the credibility of their ESG disclosures. 📖 Read our blog to discover how impact assurance is essential for organisations navigating the changing regulatory landscape: https://buff.ly/4hf2DsX #Sustainability #ImpactAssurance #ESG #ACSAP #AA1000 #TheGoodEconomy

Congratulations Matt Clifford on your appointment and this honest piece. Innovation is key to improving productivity in the UK and we see huge potential in harnessing technology to drive the place-based growth requirements of places across the country. The 6th Kondratieff Long Wave is here and as our co-Founder and Director of Research and Policy, Mark Hepworth, says this is likely to be driven by #HolisticHealth, the #BlueEconomy, the #GreenEconomy and #IoT. But technology is not enough... we also need to catalyse institutional investment, build new social contracts, deliver transformative social infrastructure, develop productive local economies and invest in 'mass flourishing' through grassroots innovation. Let's all work together to make the most of this pivotal moment to create a Good Economy, one that works for everyone! #Productivity #Innovation #AI #PlaceBasedImpactInvesting #PBII #GoodEconomy

Mark Hepworth, our co-Founder and Director of Research & Policy, comments on the Prime Minister's speech today about the government's plans to use #AI across the UK.

🎙️ Recommended Listening: Housing Insights with Alexandra Notay If you’re passionate about housing and placemaking, don’t miss this episode of Anna Clare Harper's "The Return" podcast featuring our friend Alex Notay, Chair of the Radix Big Tent Housing Commission and a leading expert in the sector. Alex brings her wealth of experience, including her work at Thriving Investments and the award-winning Igloo Regeneration, to discuss: 🏘️ What’s really needed to hit housing targets 🏗️ Why we should treat housing as critical infrastructure 🗣️ The challenge of simplifying complex housing ideas 💬 How language shapes perceptions in the housing sector It’s a thought-provoking conversation packed with practical takeaways for anyone invested in the future of housing. 🔗 Listen here! https://buff.ly/3Ppn9Lx #Housing #Infrastructure #Placemaking #SustainableDevelopment

💡 Investing in UK social infrastructure - an area of growing interest for institutional investors pursuing place-based impact. In 2025 our client Newcore Capital will focus on raising capital to buy functional but outdated buildings serving social infrastructure uses, such as healthcare and education, and making them fit for the future in terms of social utility and environmental efficiency. As Sustainability Director Kate Sandle highlights in New Private Markets, the social infrastructure sector remains relatively under-explored by institutional investors yet holds immense potential to create meaningful, place-based impact in communities across the UK. Newcore Capital says its work will help the NHS achieve its net-zero ambitions, and showcase how social infrastructure investments can address critical local and national priorities. At The Good Economy, we believe in the power of place-based impact investing to deliver real benefits to local people and places. We're also proud to support Newcore Capital with its impact strategy and reporting. ➡️ Read more about Newcore Capital's vision (requires log-in): https://lnkd.in/eyNY4UcM #SocialInfrastructure #PlaceBasedImpact #ImpactInvesting #InstitutionalInvestors #NetZero

📢 Latest Insights on Investing for Financial Inclusion A recent report from CGAP offers actionable recommendations to help fund managers better measure and manage the real-world outcomes of financial inclusion investments. The report draws on research conducted by our team at The Good Economy, in partnership with Cerise+SPTF, focusing on three fund managers’ progress in measuring and managing financial inclusion outcomes. 🔍 What are the key recommendations? 🗝️ Build a shared understanding of outcomes-focused IMM use cases: A lack of clarity on objectives, deployment timing, and roles, including funding responsibilities, hinders adoption. Stakeholders must collaborate to align interests and ensure the effective implementation of IMM practices based on clear use cases. 🗝️Overcome methodological and operational constraints: Methodological challenges, such as data reliability and operational inefficiencies, can be addressed by leveraging innovative technologies such as Natural Language Processing, machine learning, and integrated software, while managing concerns such as data security and privacy. 🗝️Create conditions for integrating outcomes data into decision-making: To make outcomes data as influential in decision-making as financial metrics, stakeholders need to foster alignment across the capital value chain, strengthen leadership and governance, and systematically embed outcomes-focused IMM into key processes. 🗝️Enhance transparency in outcomes data: To ensure comprehensive and publicly accessible reporting, standardising outcomes indicators and improving impact verification processes can enhance credibility, comparability, and trust while enabling better use of public and private data infrastructure. 📖 Read the full report, "Investing for Financial Inclusion: Four Enablers for Outcomes Measurement and Management": https://buff.ly/3PourPo 📖 Explore the Global Partnerships case study: https://buff.ly/4fMpQ4v #ImpactInvesting #ImpactMeasurement #ImpactManagement #IMM #FinancialInclusion

📅 A date for your 2025 diary! On 23 January, join Andy Smith, Head of Impact Services at The Good Economy, as he shares insights on how a bespoke impact measurement and management system can drive the creation of impactful property strategies. This discussion will take place during Pensions for Purpose's webinar, "Impact-Focused Property Investment." Andy is speaking alongside our client Edward L., Portfolio Manager at AEW, who will discuss his experience of evolving a diversified core property strategy into an impact-focused strategy, and Philip Spyropoulos, Partner, Eversheds Sutherland who works extensively on investor and market disclosure including AEW UK Impact Fund’s adoption of a sustainability objective and adoption of an SDR Sustainability Impact label. Book your place at the webinar below. Click here for a case study of our work with AEW to develop an approach to measuring and managing impact for a place-based, mixed asset real estate strategy ➡️ https://buff.ly/3DIrvL7 #PropertyInvestment #RealEstate #ImpactInvesting #SustainableFinance #SDR

💡 The Build-To-Rent (BTR) sector needs to set itself high standards for achieving social impact, and those standards need teeth. In her recent blog, Amy Ingham, one of our Senior Consultants, highlights 10 actionable insights for driving positive change in the BTR sector. One essential resource she highlights is The Association for Rental Living's Code of Practice, launched in November 2024. The Code represents a pivotal step towards a new social contract between the BTR sector, its residents and the communities it serves. It seeks to establish ambitious standards across the sector. Working with ARL, Amy and colleagues in our Impact Services Team, supported by our Associates Vivienne King and Dr Sophie Taysom, led an extensive consultation process to draft the Principles underpinning this Code [see image]. Strong momentum is already building as dozens of key sector actors express their support. 📖 Read the full article for more on the ARL Code of Practice and further insights to drive social impact through BTR: https://buff.ly/4fovh9r #BuildToRent #ImpactMeasurement #ImpactManagement #IMM #SocialImpact #UKHousing #HousingCrisis #GoodEconomy