Social impact

The loans will be used to upgrade Britain’s ageing social housing sector, which needs close to £36bn of investment to fully decarbonise, according to the National Housing Federation.

The funds will be used to build environmentally friendly homes in northern England for tenants who are struggling to find accommodation amid the country’s housing crisis.

SDG 16 is among the most underfunded of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and needs greater attention amid rising levels of violence, inequality and corruption, say impact investors.

As the UK government moves forward with reforms in the local government pensions sector, Anna Shiel, chief investment officer at Better Society Capital, explores the challenges and opportunities of leveraging impact investing to drive local growth.

Elizabeth Corley is chairing a group of investors and experts charged with devising new mechanisms for social impact funding in the UK.

The chair of the authority that runs the UK’s main financial centre says the investment community has a duty to make more social and environmental investments.

The European Investment Fund has made its second investment into IB Deuda Impacto España committing a further €25m to support Spanish businesses generating high social impact.

The UK-based investor hopes to build on the growing interest by pension funds to invest in addressing the country’s housing crisis, according to the head of its homelessness property funds. 

As governments across the world shift their focus to preventative health, a new Milken Institute report explores ways to finance the reinvention of preventative healthcare in the UK, including attracting more capital from local government pension schemes.

Strengthening social enterprises in developing countries improves stability and supports growth, benefitting the global economy, according to speakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos.