Inside Impact Investing

In this episode, Karel Nierop discusses the investment opportunities of the next phase in the energy transition with Bert Stuij, Manager National Programs/Energy at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Sonja de Ruiter, Head of Fund Management at Triodos Investment Management. The war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have made energy independence once again a top priority for...

In this episode, we take a closer look at the impact potential of impact investing in small and midcap companies. Podcast host Rosl Veltmeijer sits down with Alex Sokolowski, Head of Investor Relations at Corbion, and Dimitri Willems, Fund Manager of the Triodos Pioneer Impact Fund to discuss the role small and midcap companies...

In this episode, Karel Nierop assesses how financial institutions are progressing on their emissions reduction targets with Nicky van Dijk, Lead Researcher for the Climate Court Case against ING at the Dutch NGO Milieudefensie, and Sven Renon, Sustainability Researcher at Triodos Bank. Following the ESG-backlash, financial institutions have abandoned their voluntary climate commitments en masse. T...

In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses first experiences applying the EU Green Bond Standard in practice with Joop Hessels, Executive Director and Head of Sustainable Markets at ABN-Amro and Jeroen van Herwaarden, fund manager of the Triodos Euro Bond Impact Fund. The EU Green Bond Standard is a new standard for use-of-proceeds bonds. Like any other bond label, it is a voluntary standard intro...

In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer sits down with Matt Goodwin, Head of Sustainable Investing at the Global Child Forum, and Sjoerd Rozing, portfolio manager Future Generations at Triodos Investment Management, to explore the concept of Child Lens Investing from the perspective of online safety for children.   Children are our future - future consumers, workers, innovators and caregivers. Yet,...

In this episode, Karel Nierop explores the intriguing landscape of blended finance with David Kuijper, CEO of The Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI) and Judith Santbergen, Fund Manager of the Hivos-Triodos Fonds, a blended finance instrument avant-la-lettre. Kuijper explains what blended finance entails and how it is needed to get important transitions going, espe...

In this episode Karel Nierop sits down with Kayoko Lyons, Director of Investments at the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and Tim Crijns, Portfolio Manager Financial Inclusion at Triodos Investment Management to explore the world of financial inclusion.   Tim explains how microfinance works, why the actual risks are often lower than perceived, and how local economies show strong resilie...

The geopolitical storm we are in has accelerated a development that was already visible for some years: a fierce backlash on ESG. In this podcast, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the implications of this backlash with Lewis Johnston, director of policy at ShareAction and Triodos economist Joeri de Wilde. Together they analyse the events and circumstances that led to the ESG backlash and try to answer th...

In this episode, Karel Nierop discusses how we can make finance work for nature instead of against with David Diallo, founder of Berlin-based startup goodcarbon, and Mareike Hussels, product development manager for Nature-based Solutions at Triodos Investment Management. The term Nature-based Solutions pops up in the news more and more often but is also still a bit vague for most people. Triodos r...

In this episode, Karel Nierop discusses the challenges and opportunities of an energy system under construction with Ronald Huisman, Professor for Sustainable Energy Finance at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (amongst others), and Kay van der Kooi, Senior Investment Manager at Triodos Investment Management. The energy transition in Europe is in full swing. A main component is the electrificati...

In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses how to achieve meaningful impact by investing in stock listed companies with Dirk Schoenmaker, Professor of Banking and Finance at Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) and William de Vries, Director Impact Equities and Bonds at Triodos Investment Management. Impact investing is often associated with direct or private investing but is it als...

This podcast episode focuses on two pieces of European legislation aimed at supporting the low-carbon transition: the EU Taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard. Green bonds play an important role in financing the assets needed for the green transition. With the European Green Bond Standard, the EU wants to set a clear standard for green bonds, based on the detailed criteria of the EU taxonomy to...

In this podcast episode, Karel Nierop discusses what's behind the net zero commitments of the financial sector with Quinten Aubineau, Policy Analyst at bank Track, and Sven Renon, Impact Manager at Triodos Bank. Since the Paris climate agreement, most banks and asset managers have committed themselves to a net zero strategy to be in line with a 1,5-degree global warming scenario. But what does net...

In this podcast episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the challenges of impact performance reporting with Mike McCreless, Executive Director at Impact Frontiers, and Rebecca Spohrer, Impact Manager at Triodos Investment Management.   How to report on impact is a much-debated topic within the impact investing industry. To create a common ground for impact reporting, Mike McCreless's Impact Fronti...

Our current linear, growth-based economy uses vast quantities of resources to make things which we consume and then throw away. This system depletes finite raw materials and produces vast quantities of waste. In this episode of Inside Impact Investing, fund manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses how we can turn our linear economy into a circular one with Professor in Sustainable Business Nancy Bocken (...

The EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which has taken effect in March 2021, was one of the first regulatory initiatives stemming from the 2018 EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan. It is a sustainability-related disclosure framework for financial market participants and financial advisers focusing on the integration of sustainability risk and the consideration of adverse sustainab...

Ingrid Robeyns holds the Chair in ‘Ethics of Institutions’ at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University. She is specialised in applied and "non-ideal" ethics and political philosophy and works on the development of normative frameworks, theories, and methods. In this podcast episode, she discusses her new book “Limitarianism. The Case Against Extreme Wealth” with Chief Economist Hans Stegeman. To...

Jennifer Hinton is a systems researcher and ecological economist. She is also a co-director of the Post Growth Institute, a global network of researchers and activists seeking pathways beyond the growth-based economic system. Her work focuses on how societies relate to profit and how this relationship affects global sustainability challenges. In conversation with Hans Stegeman, Jennifer elaborates...

Impact investing is gaining ground rapidly. With capital inflows growing and regulation increasing, there is a need for clear definitions and standard practices in impact management and measurement (IMM). In this episode, fund manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses some essential questions with IMM experts Sasha Zoueva, Director of Strategic Learning and Impact at the Rockefeller Foundation and Rebecca...

As a member of the European Parliament for the Dutch political party GroenLinks (green left) and vice-chairman of the Environmental Committee, Bas Eickhout works on European climate policy among other topics. He is convinced that Europe must and can take the lead in combating climate change. Besides being a member of the European Parliament, Bas is also a climate scientist. That’s why he is commit...

In 2020, Gaya Herrington made global headlines with her master’s thesis at Harvard University. In her research Update to Limits to Growth , she assessed whether the predictions of the original Limits to growth report from 1972 are supported based on today’s data. Her conclusion: the predictions made back then still hold through today. Without major changes to our use of resources, economic growth...

As part of the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) requires asset managers to assess and disclose how sustainability risks are considered in their investment processes, and how they consider investment decisions that might result in negative effects on sustainability factors. In this episode, fund manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the reasoning...

Degrowth has become a popular term over the past years but what exactly is it? According to ecological economics expert Timothée Parrique, degrowth is a voluntary contraction of an economy for a very specific reason. In conversation with Chief Economist Hans Stegeman, Parrique addresses the popular misconceptions about degrowth and post-growth by explaining how it works. They also discuss the...

Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion. In this episode: Hans’ fru...

Impact Investment strategists Maritza Cabezas, Joeri de Wilde and Hans Stegeman discuss current economic topics and political developments and how they relate to sustainability. Though some of the discussed topics might turn out to be market moving events, this podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. It's intended to provoke your thoughts and spark a discussion. In this episode: Hans’ fru...