Ambassador Jean Kimani: Championing Sustainable Urbanisation and Ethical Finance at UN World Cities Day Impact A.M. Ambassador Jean Kimani, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN Human Settlements Programme, brings a wealth of experience to sustainable urban development. Her insights at the UN World Cities Day, in alignment with Vemi Ventures, brings together perfectly their ethos of ethical and sustainable finance. In this interview Ambassador Kimani highlighted the need for innovative financing [...]
Meet Maimunah Sharif: The Financial World’s Catalyst joining Private Finance and Public Projects to change Climate Action at COP28 and Beyond Impact A.M. COP28 As the curtains closed on World Cities Day and the stage set for COP28, one figure stands at the intersection of urban development and climate change – Maimunah Mohd Sharif. The Executive Director of UN-Habitat has not only shaped the discourse at these crucial forums but also emerged as a pivotal influence in driving the [...]
COP28’s Opening & Its Role For Ethical Financing COP28 As the COP28 climate summit unfolds, I interview Hasan Raza, Group CEO of Vemi Ventures, as part of Impact A.M. ongoing coverage of their journey to the UN Habitat’s World Cities Day in Istanbul and beyond in reflection of COP28’s launch this week. The Group CEO offers a distinct and insightful perspective on the event’s [...]
Fighting Economic Exclusion from East London September 21, 2023 It is common for not-for-profit organisations to seek change. Many will choose a specific industry, policy area or demographic they want to affect. A narrow target which allows for strategy to be easily devised and success simply measured. Renaisi, an East-London-based social enterprise, also aim to make a difference. They specialise in assisting marginalised communities [...]
“You’ve got the power to choose.” Sustainable steak with M Restaurants September 21, 2023 The food industry gets a lot of environmental flak. Agriculture is responsible for a quarter of the world’s greenhouse emissions, according to the United Nations. Meat seems to be a particular problem, with 77 per cent of agricultural land given over to livestock despite them accounting for only 17 per cent of all the calories [...]
“It’s not about diversity” September 21, 2023 The idea that companies should look out for people other than themselves is a simple one. But it has spawned all sorts of complicated-sounding acronyms, from CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to CSV (Creating Shared Value) and, of course, ESG. One such is D&I (Diversity and Inclusion). For Joel Blake OBE, Founder of GFA Exchange, an [...]
The cure for Sick Building Syndrome? September 20, 2023 Buildings are boring. We spend so much time inside that we hardly notice them, except when they go wrong. Sometimes this happens in big ways. In 2020, two-year-old Awaab Ishak succumbed to the black mould in his flat. Poor quality household air likely contributed to the death of another child, Ella Adoo Kissi-Debrah, whose Lewisham [...]
The Business Case For ESG September 20, 2023 “Let’s get real”, says Daniel Jeczmien, co-founder and CEO of Omnevue, an online ESG accounting platform. “ESG is not about saving the planet. It’s about using new datasets to drive investment in businesses that have longevity – sustainable profitability.Jeczmien should know. The businessman began his career in marketing, as did his co-founder, Dr Marc Lepere, [...]
How Moral is ESG? September 20, 2023 ESG is immoral. So argued Milton Friedman, an economist, back in 1970. Customers, employees and stockholders, he said, did not need company executives to spend their money for them. If an executive, operating in a competitive market, took an action that reduced her company’s profits in the name of “‘social responsibility’”, she then had to [...]
“It’s Not About Diversity” September 5, 2023 The idea that companies should look out for people other than themselves is a simple one. But it has spawned all sorts of complicated-sounding acronyms, from CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to CSV (Creating Shared Value) and, of course, ESG. One such is D&I (Diversity and Inclusion). For Joel Blake OBE, Founder of GFA Exchange, an [...]
