The Initiative for Responsible Investment's “More for Mission,” now housed at Harvard University’s Hauser Center, is partnering with Pacific Community Ventures on a new study that will draw attention to exemplary global public policy initiatives that are serving as catalyzing agents for social and environmental impact enterprises.
In the initial stages, study directors are seeking input from the impact and mission investing community in creating a database of public policies and programs, including:
· Financial incentives for affordable housing, urban regeneration, rural economic development, energy efficiency, or alternative energy (for example, New Markets Tax Credits in the United States, the Green Funds Scheme in the Netherlands).
· Regulatory interventions that mandate social or environmental investment standards (for example, inclusionary zoning, the Community Reinvestment Act, the South African Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, transparency requirements).
· Direct public investment that helps to build markets (for example, the CDFI Loan Fund, the European Investment Bank JESSICA Project, public purchasing agreements, public-private infrastructure investments).
The project seeks to assemble a broad universe of policies to consider for further study, says David Wood, director of the Initiative for Responsible Investment. “These might be policies that aim directly to build impact investing markets, or those that have created such markets through unintended consequences," says Wood.
The results of the study will be published and distributed widely. Please direct your ideas and comments to Wood at david_wood@hks.harvard.edu.