Tag: Food & Farming

Elizabeth Yee of the Rockefeller Foundation (left) and Dr. Chelsea Clinton of the Clinton Foundation stands with Sapna Shah and Amit Bouri of the GIIN to mark 15 years of impact investing at the GIIN’s 15 Year Anniversary Reception. (Courtesy of The GIIN)

The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) was launched at Clinton Global Initiative 2009 Annual Meeting.

Over the past 15 years, impact investing has grown to advance global solutions for climate resilience, global healthcare, housing, energy, and more.

Partnerships with CGI and The Rockefeller Foundation will continue to be critical to the future of impact investing.

In 2009, on the main stage of the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, President Bill Clinton stood next to Amit Bouri and his founding partners as they launched a new idea: the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). The GIIN started as a 22-member community of investors committed to using their investing power not only to produce financial gains, but also to produce social and environmental benefits.

Bouri, CEO of the GIIN, recalled President Clinton going slightly off-script during his remarks to say, “This is one of those ideas that you’re not really sure if it’s going to work…but if it does, it can really change the world.”

Recently, at The Rockefeller Foundation, the GIIN marked 15 years as a global champion for impact investing, and leader of a movement that continues to leverage capital to advance global solutions in the fields of sustainable agriculture, energy, healthcare, and more. Dr. Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, joined Bouri and cross-sector colleagues to discuss the current state of impact investing and look ahead to the next 15 years.

For an anniversary event, the focus was squarely on the future.

“People are excited about leveraging capital to solve these social problems. It’s not just about return, so many institutions are now prioritizing impact investing funds and seeing that change in the world is really remarkable,” said Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President of Programs at The Rockefeller Foundation.

“But as funding gaps widen and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) go unmet, now is the time to take the work further and faster,” she said.

According to Clinton, the future of impact investment must include more cross-sector perspectives at the table, more investments in proven solutions, all while remaining aligned on an equitable mission to make tangible impacts.

“CGI will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year,” Clinton said, as she described President Clinton’s work to make AIDS drugs more accessible through the Clinton Health Access Initiative or CHAI, which informed the creation of CGI. For both the GIIN and CGI, partnerships played a pivotal role in the creation and sustainability of their work and will continue to be a key to success in the future.

“There’s real power in the diversity of perspective,” Bouri said, “and a real potential in helping unlock new solutions, new thinking, and also build bridges and understanding. And that continues to be necessary today.”

“We all can bear witness to the power of partnership in our own lives, particularly when we have partners from across the different sectors because we understand that different actors have different kinds of fluency with starting something versus scaling something versus sustaining something,” Clinton said.

They also discussed the importance of amplifying what’s working. Today, Clinton said, we know how to dramatically improve outcomes for global healthcare, climate resilience, and more, so in the next 15 years, it’s imperative to pour into those solutions while also developing innovative models for capital to facilitate and sustain progress.

For the next 15 years of the GIIN, Clinton hoped to see more multi-sectoral perspectives within the impact investing community – not only banks, insurers, and university endowments, but also individual investors who share the GIIN’s vision for building a better world. She hoped to use the lessons from what is working to reshape systems for a lasting impact. She also imagined a future where high school and college students are able to see the possibilities of impact investing to build the future they want to see.

Learn more at Global Impact Investing Network

12th Clean200 list shows global sustainable clean energy economy is experiencing exponential growth around the world

As You Sow and Corporate Knights recently released the 12th cohort of the Carbon Clean200™, a global list of 200 publicly traded companies leading the global sustainable clean energy economy. Together, these industry-leading companies generated $2.5 trillion in revenue from services and products that reduce demand for fossil fuels and water, while offering investors more than double the returns of the fossil-fuel-heavy MSCI ACWI Energy Index. They also beat the global benchmark MSCI ACWI by 30% from July 1, 2016, to January 29, 2025.

The latest Clean200 list is available to the public. Clean200 data shows that for the large companies that make up 80% of global market capitalization, sustainable revenues and capital expenditures are growing more than twice as fast as everything else. This trend holds across sectors and regions and puts sustainable companies on a path to dominate the global economy by the end of the next decade, despite political attacks.

Key Findings Include:

• The top 10 companies on the list by revenue include Apple, Contemporary Amperex Technology, Microsoft, Tesla, TSMC, and Volkswagen.

• Thirty-five countries are represented in the Clean200, including the U.S. (41), China (21), Japan (18), Germany (14), and France and Canada (11 each).

• Clean200 companies earned over $2.5 trillion in sustainable revenue during 2023 (the most recent year for which full year results are available).

• Clean200 companies generated a total return of 190.9% on a sustainable revenue-weighted basis outperforming the MSCI ACWI index (162.0%) and the MSCI ACWI/Energy Index of fossil fuel companies (76.7%) on Total Return Gross — USD Basis from the Clean200 inception of July 1, 2016, to Jan. 29, 2025.

• $10,000 invested in the Clean200 on July 1, 2016, would have grown to $29,090 by Jan. 29, 2025, versus $17,670 for the MSCI ACWI/Energy benchmark for fossil fuel.

• The industrial sector accounts for 52 companies on the list, followed by the Information Technology (32), and consumer discretionary and materials (29 each). IT companies had the highest total sustainable revenue, a cumulative total of over $687 billion.

The top 10 companies that contributed the most to the Clean200’s performance over the past year were from China (3), the U.S. (2), France (2), Taiwan (1), Germany (1) and the U.K. (1). They include sustainably-certified tech hardware, electric vehicles, and electric rail equipment.

“In 2016, we created the Clean200 in response to investors saying, ‘If we divest fossil fuels, there is nothing to invest in,’” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow and report co-author. “The Clean200 has consistently demonstrated that the ‘clean energy’ future of eight years ago is now the clean energy present. This year, the scale and global diversity of leading companies continue to expand and redefine the term ‘cleantech’ to be any company with products and services that will reduce demand for fossil fuels and water.”

“It is telling that clean energy stocks generated more than double the returns of fossil fuel stocks since 2016, despite political headwinds, underlining that stock markets care more about economic materiality of the parabolic growth in clean energy than the political leanings of the day,” said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights and report co-author.

The Clean200 utilizes the Corporate Knights Sustainable Revenue database, which tracks the percentage of revenue companies earn from sustainable economy themes ranging from green power to electric vehicles to plant protein and smart buildings.

The list excludes companies that are flagged on Corporate Knights Red Flag Companies List and As You Sow’s Invest Your Values suite of mutual fund transparency tools that identify companies involved in fossil fuels, deforestation, the prison industrial complex, weapons, and tobacco, as well as Corporate Knights’ exclusionary screens which form part of its Global 100 methodology.

“We will continue to track and share the emergence of the clean energy economic powerhouse,” Behar continued. “There is clear financial evidence showing a broad spectrum of companies defining this economic transformation away from an extractive economy and into a regenerative economy based on justice and sustainability. The job growth and resilience demonstrated by these companies are our greatest hope in controlling climate change and achieving a safe, just, and sustainable world that benefits all.”

About As You Sow
As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30-year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, pesticides, racial justice, workplace diversity, and executive compensation.

About Corporate Knights
Founded in 2002, Corporate Knights is an independent media and research company committed to advancing a sustainable economy. Corporate Knights maintains the Sustainable Economy Intelligence Database, which is the research engine behind its flagship ranking of The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, and was recently selected by Climate Arc to provide green revenue and CapEx data for the companies being targeted by Climate Action 100+.

** As You Sow and Corporate Knights are not investment advisors, nor do we provide financial planning, legal, or tax advice. Nothing in the Carbon Clean200 Report shall constitute or be construed as an offering of financial instruments or as investment advice or investment recommendations. **

Key Points

• The second annual CNBC Changemakers list of women transforming business and philanthropy recognizes leaders whose accomplishments span many fields and innovations.

• Companies on the list, from the latest startups to large multinationals, are valued by the market at a total near $400 billion.

• Some of the names are well known, but doing new things, like Jennifer Garner and Paris Hilton. Some who are not household names are solving major problems in women’s health and with AI.

The second annual CNBC Changemakers list of women who are transforming business and philanthropy, which was launched in late February 2025, recognizes leaders whose accomplishments span many fields and innovations: biotech breakthroughs, AI advances, women’s health, and new products and services, many focused on female consumers. Each has accomplished a meaningful achievement in 2024, propelling a major business to a new level of growth or tackling an essential societal issue.

This group of women includes a dozen startup founders leading companies with a total combined valuation of more than $11 billion, and they’ve raised more than $2 billion from investors. The nine public company CEOs on the list run organizations with a combined market capitalization of about $385 billion.

In all, the companies span fourteen sectors, including nine women in the broader umbrella of media, entertainment and sports, six in the financial services industry, and six in the business of food and restaurants. Aerospace/defense, construction, real estate, and pharma/biotech are also represented. Three women on the list are running philanthropic organizations, and there are two women recognized for their achievements in government.

Since November, we’ve been gathering nominations and, with guidance from the Changemakers Advisory Board, evaluated the applicants’ impact through both quantitative and qualitative lenses. Our nominees submitted information about the size and scope of their nominees’ impact. Then, with our team of advisors, and reporters from across CNBC, we assessed the degree to which each candidate has driven change — in their companies and beyond. There are so many accomplished women; our list is differentiated by focusing on their particular impact in the past year.

In putting together this list, CNBC identified a couple of key trends. Like last year’s inaugural list, these leaders are pursuing purpose along with profits, creating businesses whose success is aligned with social or environmental good.

Toyin Ajayi, CEO of Cityblock Health, co-founded the health-care provider to improve the health of lower-income communities, by offering not just medical care, but also mental health, and help navigating social services.

Honest Company CEO Carla Vernón is pursuing the company’s mission to make sustainably-designed and cleanly-formulated products accessible to parents.

Cassandra Morales Thurswell created plastic-free shampoo bars to make affordable hair care, also sustainable.

And Emma Grede, founding partner and chief product officer of Skims, co-founded Good American, a size-inclusive brand, to give an underserved market more options, and she’s using her platform to drive change. She’s chairman of The Fifteen Percent Pledge, a nonprofit working with retailers to dedicate 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses.

Another key trend: Women tackling health-care needs, often their own. Stripes Beauty founder and chief creative officer Naomi Watts is leading a transformation in the way women talk about and treat menopause. Joanna Strober’s startup, Midi Health, offers a virtual clinic, including hormonal and non-hormonal medications, along with supplements and lifestyle coaching, for women aged 40-plus. These two women are tapping a market with enormous potential.

Other Changemakers are focusing on giving consumers more information about their bodies. Katherine Stueland is CEO of GeneDX, which provides genomics testing to help with diagnosis, treatment, and drug discovery, while Michal Mor and Merav Mor, twin sisters and triathletes, co-founded Lumen to measure and track metabolism to provide personalized nutrition.

While most leaders are focused on AI, this group of Changemakers is on the cutting edge, not just of AI development, but also its safe and practical implementation. Lila Ibrahim, chief operating officer of Google DeepMind, is working to ensure that AI is deployed, not just responsibly, but as a force for good, to find medical breakthroughs. Meanwhile Aily Labs’ Bianca Anghelina is building tools to improve corporate decision-making, and Accenture’s chief AI officer, Lan Guan, helps the firm’s thousands of clients develop customized AI strategies. In 2024, Guan led the fastest growth in an emerging technology in Accenture’s history, booking $3 billion in generative AI-related business for the firm.

Our goal in launching the Changemakers list last year was to highlight leaders who have defied the odds. Women comprise 11% of Fortune 500 CEOs, and that’s a record high. As a result, nearly all of the women on the list come from Fortune 500 industries or sectors where women are severely underrepresented in CEO roles. Some, such as Taylor Morrison CEO Sheryl Palmer, are the only female CEOs in their sector. Palmer has embraced the distinction, leveraging her position to create opportunities for other women. Taylor Morrison says the company’s female workforce reached 44% in March of 2024, four times the construction industry average.

Palmer’s employee base illustrates a trend: female leaders are more likely to have more women reporting to them in leadership roles and a diverse workforce. And this is true of this year’s Changemakers: 29 other women on the list say at least half their workforce is female. And 30 say at least half their direct reports are women.

Outside of the Fortune 500, women face an uphill climb as well. Venture capital funding to female-founded companies has actually declined, to 2% last year, while companies with female and male co-founders drew nearly 21%. (That means all-male founding teams drew over 77% of all VC dollars last year). And there is data showing that the progress women are making to close gender gaps in leadership is “fragile,” as Sheryl Sandberg warned after the LeanIn/McKinsey report found a weak pipeline into CEO roles.

The women who succeed, despite those odds, are by definition, exceptional, and their stories, which reveal grit, perseverance, and creativity, are an inspiration. We will be celebrating these Changemakers on April 8 in Los Angeles. Please join me there for a series of interviews and conversations about leadership, innovation, understanding consumers, how to lead culture, and strategize for the future.

Our lineup for the April 8 Summit includes some of this year’s Changemakers: Donna Langley, chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios; Paris Hilton, founder, CEO 11:11 media; Chelsea Hirschhorn, founder and CEO of baby, pregnancy and fertility product company Frida; TIAA’s CEO of Retirement Solutions, Kourtney Gibson; education company Guild’s CEO Bijal Shah, and Merav and Michal Mor, the co-founders and inventors of Lumen.

The 2025 CNBC Changemakers – Here’s the full list of women transforming business

Article by Julia Boorstin, CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent based at the network’s Los Angeles Bureau. She covers media and tech with a focus on their intersection and technological innovation, and delivers reporting, analysis, and interviews for the network. Boorstin also leads CNBC’s “Fast Forward,” a franchise focused on where media and tech companies are heading in the future, and the “AI Impact” series, which examines the risks and opportunities in the AI technological race.