Message from Sir Ronald Cohen:
Dear All,
It is a pleasure to be writing to you again after several extremely busy months for both GSG and the impact investing sector.
The April-June quarter saw the launch of the Spanish National Advisory Board (NAB), which I attended in Madrid. I believe that a real opportunity now exists for Spanish government policy to boost impact investment. It also saw the creation of a more powerful NAB in the UK, with the launch of the Impact Investing Institute, bringing together our existing NAB and the Implementation Taskforce for Growing a Culture of Social Impact Investing.
The global advance of impact investing progressed in April at the World Bank Spring Meetings, with the IFC launching its Operating Principles for Impact Management as well as an important report, Creating Impact: The Promise of Impact Investing. Following on from the launch of the OECD’s report, The Impact Imperative, and ahead of UNDP’s announcement of its own SDG Impact Steering Group, it is clear the impact revolution has entered mainstream thinking.
This is beginning to come true in the political arena as well. Prime Minister Abe, at the recent G20 meeting in Osaka, announced that Japan will lead to “accelerate innovative financing mechanisms, including impact investment” and a supportive mention was included in the Leaders’ Declaration. Congratulations to our Japanese NAB, and Masa-san in particular, for this great achievement. Our Finnish and French NABs are now running with the baton: Finland is holding the EU Presidency for the next six months, and France will be hosting the G7 Summit in August.
At our Impact Summit in Santiago, on 18-20 November, we will need to define the best strategy and action plan to achieve Tipping Point 2020 and the SDGs. The Summit will therefore be rich in forum discussions, involving hundreds of impact leaders and stakeholders from more than 50 countries.
I very much look forward to seeing you in Chile and to participating with you in accelerating the global progress of our movement.
With my best wishes,
Onwards and upwards!
All the very best,