(3BL Media/Justmeans) – Entrepreneurship in Africa has emerged as one of the most sustainable tools to generate jobs. A 2015 study by Approved Index, a UK based group, ranked Africa near the top in terms of entrepreneurship. Global investors are increasingly recognizing the rise of entrepreneurship and the changing business landscape in the African continent.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) – Sustainable infrastructure investments have a critical role to play in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the Rockefeller Foundation, there is a $2.5 trillion annual funding gap in developing countries alone to achieve the SDGs.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) – Climate action is no longer limited only to the direction provided by a country’s policy makers. Private organizations are playing a proactive role, governed by economic and ethical imperatives and supported by investors, consumers and other stakeholders.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) – Large technology companies are increasingly investing in AI and machine learning. According to a recent McKinsey report, in 2016, companies such as Google, Facebook and Baidu spent between $26 and $39 billion on AI research.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) – Global companies have the opportunity use their scale to make a positive difference to the planet. Some of these companies are now striving to make the aspirational attainable. They are demonstrating a determination to find the best ways to support global goals of ending poverty, fighting inequality and protecting the environment.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) – Small businesses and young entrepreneurs can benefit the most from a wealth of innovative and cutting edge business advice, support and mentoring from business schools. Once business academics become more accessible and help businesses start up and grow, it will encourage more entrepreneurs to come forward and seek knowledge and ideas to build more sustainable and productive companies.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) – Sustainable or ESG investing originally broke ground when fund managers began actively engaging with companies and started voting down inefficient governance decisions. Firms with weak ESG commitments started getting excluded from fund investment portfolios. The asset managers eventually began handpicking companies with a strong focus on ESG factors and socially responsible and ethical approaches.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) – The central aim of the Paris climate agreement is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees Celsius. The agreement also aims to boost the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) – Regional sustainable development emphasizes the mitigation of regional disparities across the globe, and seeks to address local economic, social and ecological concerns to build a more equitable world. Multinational companies have a responsibility to focus on ESG efforts in all the communities they represent worldwide.
(3BL Media/Jutmeans) – Sustainable finance is a rapidly accelerating global movement. Countries from China to France and the UK have launched initiatives to boost flows of private capital for climate and sustainability. The value of investment assets committed to the Principles for Responsible Investment is now over $73 trillion.