Inside Impact Investing

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) [https://edfi.eu/] 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, especially in emerging markets. Santbergen elaborates on Hivos-Triodos Fonds' ability to do smaller transactions, focusing on SMEs in high impact sectors in emerging markets. Tailored to meet investors’ requirements - be it fiduciary or regulatory - blended finance can open new markets and offer diversification.   Despite the difficulties in scaling up, both guests see strong opportunities for blended finance. Given the demographic developments with Europe ageing and declining in population while the global south is young and growing, combined with Europe’s enormous amount of pension savings, there is an urgent need to transition European private capital to emerging markets. Blended finance facilities can help change the direction of private capital flows, for example in sectors where blended finance has proven to work like renewable energy and resilient infrastructure. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

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 resilience. Kayoko shares her investment journey, highlighting the crucial role of financial services in economic development and encouraging new investors to be bold, start small and do something. Together, they discuss future trends, the role of technology, and the importance of maintaining a strong impact mission. The episode closes with practical insights into how investors can contribute responsibly to expanding global financial access. More information about the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart: Welcome to the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus | Bringing Christ's love to the world [https://www.mothercabrini.org/] More information about the benefits of backing financial services in emerging markets: The benefits of backing financial services in emerging markets [https://www.preqin.com/insights/research/blogs/the-benefits-of-backing-financial-services-in-emerging-markets] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

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 the question if we are witnessing a structural shift away from ESG investing or only a temporary setback. Read Joeri's column 'No shift away from sustainability' here: BlackRock never really had sustainable ambitions, more and more citizens do [https://www.triodos-im.com/articles/2025/column-joeri-de-wilde---blackrock-never-really-had-sustainable-ambitions-more-and-more-citizens-do] Find out more about the activities of ShareAction here: ShareAction | Harness the power of investment [https://shareaction.org/]   ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

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 recently made a commitment to provide at least EUR 500 million in investments, loans and contributions to the Nature-based Solutions sector by the end of 2030 as part of its biodiversity targets. The IPCC ranks certain Nature-based Solutions among the most promising ways to tackle the climate crisis.     But what are Nature-based Solutions exactly? Why is the IPCC so enthusiastic about them? And do they represent an interesting investment case? These are the questions that are addressed in this podcast. Read more about Triodos' commitment to the Nature-based Solutions sector here: Triodos Bank nature-based solutions commitment [https://www.triodos-im.com/articles/2024/triodos-banks-commitment-to-nature-based-solutions] More about the partnership with goodcarbon can be found here: investment Hivos-Triodos Fonds: goodcarbon [https://www.triodos-im.com/articles/2024/investment-hivos-triodos-fonds---goodcarbon] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

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 electrification of many processes: from transport and heating to highly energy-intensive industrial processes. This means a large buildout of both generation and consumption of electricity. While the process of electrification is taking up speed, the energy system, which was designed with fossil fuels in mind, is squeaking and creaking. Examples include waiting lines for electricity connection in construction projects and negative energy prices during peak electricity production. Will the initial success now threaten to undermine the energy transition? Interested in learning more about this topic? Read Kay van der Kooi's blog on net congestion here: What’s the hold-up? On the Ins and Outs of Grid Congestion [https://kayvanderkooi.substack.com/p/whats-the-hold-up-on-the-ins-and] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.