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<\/p>\nBy Jen Field, Social Impact Director at GLG<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo: (L-R) FT’s Sarah Murray, ZAIS Group’s Desiree Fixler, Endeavor’s Linda Rottenberg, me, and Toniic’s Adam Bendell<\/p>\n
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly launched its\u00a0Sustainable Development Goals<\/a>\u00a0(SDGs), a set of 17 goals developed to serve as a \u201cblueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.\u201d The ambitious goals cover a range of issue areas, from poverty to gender equality to climate action \u2013 and the UN set out a timeline to accomplish them all within 15 years.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0estimates<\/a>, there\u2019s a $2.5 trillion annual funding gap keeping us from achieving the SDGs by 2030. Over the next decade, it will be imperative to mobilize capital toward overcoming that gap and advancing the SDGs.<\/p>\n But how can investors funnel capital to the issues and places where it\u2019s most urgently needed?<\/strong>\u00a0The answer is impact investing: the practice of investing to generate not only financial return, but also positive, measurable social and environmental impact.<\/p>\n On December 5, I participated as a panelist at the\u00a0Financial Times\u2019<\/em>\u00a0Investing for Good USA<\/a>\u00a0conference, where speakers discussed how innovative financial strategies, like impact investing, can advance the SDGs. I was joined on a panel about increasing private equity impact deal flow by Desiree Fixler (Managing Director and Head of Impact Investing at\u00a0ZAIS Group), Adam Bendell (CEO of Toniic), Linda Rottenberg (CEO and Co-Founder of Endeavor), and moderator Sarah Murray (a writer on sustainable development for the\u00a0Financial Times<\/em>).<\/p>\n The conference was a great opportunity to learn and share the latest developments in impact investing, a still relatively new field that\u2019s gaining traction \u2013 particularly in EMEA and the U.S. The field continues to grow as data\u00a0shows<\/a>\u00a0that impact investing provides at or above market-rate returns \u2013\u00a0and as institutional investors\u00a0increasingly support<\/a>\u00a0Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives. A 2018 report by FTSE Russell\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that more than half of global asset owners are \u201cimplementing or evaluating ESG consideration in their investment strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Seven years ago, GLG made a formal investment in Social Impact. In the years since, we\u2019ve worked with innovative social sector organizations and built a deep, relevant expert base tailored to their particular needs. As we see more and more of our financial services and professional services clients inquire about topics related to impact investing and investing with an ESG lens, we support them throughout the deal and integration processes to generate both strong financial returns and positive social impact. And, crucially, we approach these projects in the same way that we approach our traditional client work \u2013\u00a0with comprehensive service, thought partnership, and a focus on client outcomes.<\/p>\n Impact investing allows fund managers, foundations, family offices, and other investors to make a real difference in the world. Their investments are crucial resources on the path to achieve the UN SDGs \u2013 to eradicate hunger, ensure access to clean water, proliferate affordable and clean energy, and more. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with my colleagues at GLG, and with our experts, in support of our clients\u2019 changemaking work.<\/p>\n By Jen Field, Social Impact Director at GLG Photo: (L-R […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":39624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[579,583],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-op-eds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glginsights.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"