1 minute read
Sir Ronald Cohen
Co-Founder, Apax Partners
WHAT IS ONE THING WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT IN SUSTAINABILITY THAT WE SHOULD BE?
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We need to be talking about the urgent need for impact accounting. The existence of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to cover the world aside from the US, the efforts of the SEC through its current consultation on environmental disclosure and the efforts of the EU to bring transparency to the impacts created by investors are milestones on the way to impact accounting transparency. The work of the Impact Weighted Accounts Initiative at Harvard Business School and the establishment of the International Foundation for Valuing Impacts (IFVI) will bring impacts into financial analysis and the valuation of businesses very soon. Embracing impact thinking and methodologies can address all of ESG’s deficiencies. We need to be talking solutions and not getting bogged down in talking about what’s wrong with ESG.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES WE FACE IN GETTING THE WORLD UNIFIED ON A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE?
Some challenges affect the planet – like climate change – and others are more localized, such as ` droughts in regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The 17 SDGs we need to meet by 2030 set down an overwhelming goal and it is difficult for any country to work on meeting all SDGs simultaneously. The international community needs to realize the importance of working at both the local and global level. This calls for the implementation of massive impact initiatives using pay-for-success flows of capital such as sustainability-linked bonds and loans, which reached US$1 trillion last year.
HOW ARE YOU OVERCOMING SAID CHALLENGES?
I’ve been closely involved with IWAI, which I co-founded and chair. As chair of the GSG (Global Steering Group for Impact Investment), which comprises over 1,000 people in 35 countries, I am driving initiatives such as the US$1 billion Education Outcomes Fund, a Just Transition to Net Zero in South Africa, and bringing solutions to eradicate slums. The GSG is also advocating policies to create impact economies. This involves standardizing impact accounting methodologies and advocating their adoption by the G7, the G20, and governments across the world. We are in the throes of a huge revolution to bring investors and businesses to deliver solutions to the great challenges we face.
