The Time Is Now: The Fierce Urgency of This Moment

As confirmed by the 2021 IPCC report, climate change is man-made and the harmful effects of global warming will only become more severe—with flooding, drought, heat waves, and other catastrophic weather events becoming more and more commonplace. António Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, called the report’s findings “a code red for humanity.”

However, this same report indicates that if we act quickly and decisively to reduce emissions of CO2and other greenhouse gases on a global scale, we can still stabilize temperatures. The scarcity of time to solve climate change is perhaps the most urgent challenge we face. If we don’t meet this challenge with the urgency required, we will lose our opportunity to avoid surpassing the threshold of 1.5°C or even 2°C. But we are acting as though we have endless amounts of time to avert catastrophe. Governments have not sufficiently moved the needle. Some of the commitments made at COP26 were significantly less than those of the Paris Agreement. Some national goals to reach net zero are 20 years behind the 2050 target.

However, as impact investors, we represent private actors who can act faster than nation-states. It is up to us to speed our efforts to address global warming and climate justice in the limited time we have. This lack of time is why it seems unacceptable to me for investors to only “partially commit assets” to impact investing and remain “somewhat” invested in oil and gas or high CO2-emitting sectors. As investment firms clamor that they are ESG investors but only screen out a few stocks from an index fund, I believe that the entire world of financial services should be taking a very serious look at itself, including its benchmarks. Is it laudable to beat a benchmark if it mostly represents an extractive economy? The concept of what is “market rate” seems to omit the true cost to society.

I believe it is imperative that all firms invest in sustainable and regenerative agriculture and focus on carbon sequestration, as we are doing at Veris Wealth Partners, versus investing in what can appear to be “sexy” cleantech funds. The question we all must be asking is, what intervention is the most strategic and will put the greatest dent in our CO2emissions? This is not about giving up on economic growth—it’s about investing in regeneration, innovation, and sustainable growth.

We are social beings that are intrinsically part of nature—we need to consciously harness this drive and take immediate action. Without taking urgent action, we will be facing a world that does not represent the true nature of humanity. Investing in impact is simply about being conscious of our nature and our needs and addressing them.

Looking ahead to Confluence’s 2022 Practitioners Gathering, I hope that we will take advantage of this opportunity to come together as impact leaders and collaborate to hasten our efforts and ensure a more unified and effective approach to solving the climate crisis in the short amount of time that we do have.

To a better world, together,

Stephanie

^{Disclaimer: This document represents the views of the author which should not be taken as fact. Opinions are subject to change without notice. The authore does not undertake any responsibility to update the information contained herein. Certain information contained herein is sourced from third party sources believed to be reliable, but the author makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of such information.}