Dear Friends of IFB,
As we opened the month of May with full day tribute to workers’ rights, we ended the month with the formal approval of the CSDDD by European Parliament, requiring companies to identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their actions inside and outside Europe.
During the past month, many organizations presented and discussed sustainability issues. IFB was part of a Flemish brainstorm day, PensioPlus presentations, Social Innovators meeting in Brussels, an international event with “progressive decision-makers committed to building the regenerative economy” and a presentation by DPAM and Incofin sharing their increased collaboration. Most telling was the chair of a Dutch pension fund who expressed “Sustainability is here to stay. Let’s embrace it, even if it is full of uncertainties.” They set aside 1% of their sizeable assets, purely for impact.
IFB has several working groups in full swing, discussing exactly these topics that will allow participants to learn from each other, to share questions and jointly identify what steps are required to achieve more and better impact. In parallel, a legal team from Freshfields is helping us analyze which foreign examples may be adapted for the Belgian setting. Next month, we hope to share some first results.
On 14 May, we saw many of you at the first AGM of IFB and following annual drinks in our sunny garden. Two IFB members shared their approach to impact, with lessons about the market and the need for internal training. Impact is more than a business case as we learned that at personal level: “the more you give, the more you receive”.
As Europe will soon go to the polls, we can only encourage all of you to vote. For those in or close to Brussels: we have a unique collection of parliaments in this city alone, which can all be visited, even online. Also online are the next IFB events, online and in person.
We remain open to your inputs, your questions and ideas.
Enjoy reading,
Frederik and the team of IFB
IFB Inspires 💡
IFB Inspires💡
On Tuesday, 14 May, IFB organized the first Annual General Meeting.
At the AGM we formally onboarded two Board Members – Aline Buysschaert and Audrey Hanard.
IFB also released the 2023 Annual Report now also available on our website.
IFB Connects🔗
Following the AGM, we invited our members to join the Annual Drinks at Impact House’s beautiful new garden. We are grateful to Peter De Coensel (DPAM) along with Patrick Somerhausen and Nicolas Crochet (Funds for Good) for their inspirational speeches.
IFB Enables🔓
On 23 May 2024, IFB, Impact Europe, GSG Impact, GAIL and other European GSG National Partners, released a joint statement as a response to European Commission’s SFDR Consultation Summary Report.
IFB Catalyzes🌱
IFB started the third working group on Beyond 10. We welcomed a mix of experts from Triodos Bank, BNP Paribas Fortis, KOIS, BVA, Towards Sustainability, and ULB. Together with these expert, IFB aims to clarify the definitions of ‘responsible investing’, ‘sustainable investing’ and ‘impact investing’ crucial to explore the market potential after reaching the first 10% AUM.
IFB Inspires💡
In the third webinar in the IMM series, IFB along with Sophie Paquot, discussed the different methods to measure impact. This includes the qualitative, quantitative and valuation methods for your IMM practices.
POLICY AND REGULATION
ESMA Report on Fund Names
On 14 May 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released the final report on the guidelines for fund names using ESG or sustainability-related terms. It aims to ensure that ESG fund names match their sustainability credentials and that investors are protected against greenwashing.
Key points:
⚬ Minimum Investment threshold and qualifying criteria for different categories between “environmental”, “sustainability”, “impact”, “transition”, “social” and “governance”-related terms.
⚬ Funds with impact-related terms should:
💠 Meet an 80% investment threshold for environmental or social characteristics or sustainable investment objectives following the binding elements of the investment strategy.
💠Apply the Paris-aligned Benchmark (PAB) exclusions.
💠 Ensure that investments are made to generate a positive, measurable social or environmental impact alongside a financial return.
POINT OF VIEW
Introducing IFB’s newest Board Member, Audrey Hanard. As a young leader, she has worn and is wearing many hats amongst others as Associate Partner at Dalberg Global Advisors, Chair of the Board of Directors of B-post and as Director at Proximus Group. More about her in this Point of View:
“If we want impact finance to flourish and achieve its goals,we need to actively dismantle the superficial dichotomy between “giving” and “investing.”
Instead, we should view these as a spectrum of activities across a nuanced continuum. This approach ensures that each impact project deserving of scale can find the right mix of funding to help solve our world’s challenges.”
Audrey Hanard, Board Member IFB and Partner at Dalberg.
IMPACT EVENTS IN JUNE
Concluding the IMM Webinar
To end the IMM webinar series, we are closing it with ‘Challenges Regarding Impact Measurement’. Joining us is Hugues PIrotte, a professor at ULB, Solvay. The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, 25 June during lunchtime.
News from Our Community
IFB Member News
- FORWARD IMPACT
- FORWARD IMPACT National Meetup on the 25th of June. This networking event will serve as the grand finale for the 2024 cohort of the FORWARD IMPACT accelerator program while awarding the entrepreneurs and introducing the second cohort for this year.
- Foundation for Future Generations – How to mobilise foundations’ assets to elevate their societal impact?
-
The work of the Asset Management Working Group of the Belgian Federation of Philanthropic Foundations has led to two publications in the series Elevate the societal ambition of my foundation’s assets under management:
- Why integrate extra-financial criteria?
- How to collaborate with my asset manager?
Filling a gap in resources available to foundations, these unique tools bring together key elements that guide foundations in elevating the impact of their assets, both in their internal decision-making processes and in their external interactions. They were produced by the Foundation for Future Generations, initiator and chair of the working group, with the support of the Federation of Foundations. - Cohousing “Together for more cohousing” - The cooperative Cohousing Invest announced a 4.25% dividend at its annual general meeting. In addition, the share value increases from €295 to €300. Cohousing Invest invests in sustainable housing projects with collective parts and has projects all over Flanders. - Growfunding - On May 1st, founder Frederik Lamote said goodbye to Growfunding. Charlotte Brandsma, co-director since 2020, stays on as Managing Director. - KBC – Climate Leader 2024 - Again, this year, KBC is on the list of Climate Leaders compiled by Financial Times. Only 10 Belgian companies may call themselves Climate Leader 2024. KBC is the only Belgian financial institution to appear on the list.
NEWS FROM NABS AND PARTNERS
- The Netherlands Advisory Board published their 2023 Impact Report.
- GSG Impact and The Netherlands Advisory Board collaborated on Pensions and Impact Investing report.
- SpainNAB published the first study on the demand for impact financing in Spain.
- FAIR France unveiled their 2023 Annual Report.
- Impact Europe and Philea launched a multi-year program to support philanthropic organisations to explore widening their impact investing toolbox.
Copyright (C) 2023 Impact Finance Belgium. All rights reserved.
Manage consent
