Our previous post on greening rural financial services has received a lot of positive feedback. We are working on a sequel, which will examine some specific case studies and attempt to draw some conclusions on potential lessons and best practices. In the meantime, we have been asked to send a call out to our network…
More...By Tanja Havemann Despite struggling with many of the same issues, the worlds of rural finance (microfinance institutions, producer organizations and Small & Medium-sized Enterprises – SMEs) and environmental finance (natural capital / valuation of ecosystem services) often feel segregated. There are clear opportunities for more collaboration in (a) assessing risk, and (b) designing new…
More...Tanja Havemann & Samiksha Nair Oh Carbon Where Art Thou? Here are some clues to the current state of the global carbon markets: The biggest independent auditors are shutting down or greatly reducing operations, the former leaders of the global carbon markets are trying very hard to re-invent themselves, regulatory schemes driving internalization of carbon…
More...We would like to say THANK YOU to Naomi Rosenthal, whose contract with Clarmondial finished at the end of May. During the past 12 months she has been a great help in organising the Natural Capital event and she also provided research support on agricultural commodities in East Asia and green initiatives in the micro…
More...by Fred Werneck and Tanja Havemann Since our article on Social Impact Bonds (SIB), Clarmondial has had numerous discussions with clients and potential clients about impact bonds. Given that a financial structure needs to ultimately meet the specific program conditions, and local conditions were not suited to a ‘standard’ impact bond, we created and will…
More...Identifying microfinance institutions that set an example As the microfinance industry has grown, there has been an increasing focus on the non-financial impacts that microfinance institutions (MFIs) can have. While the industry developed to tackle socio-economic issues through providing access to finance, its impressive growth led to increasing evaluation of MFIs potential social and environmental…
More...By Tanja Havemann A number of projects that we are involved with have led to some musings on agriculture, trade, environment and development. We decided to post some of these thoughts, which will be published in three parts: this entry focuses on global trends.
More...By Naomi Rosenthal The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) continues to evolve rapidly, and the majority of global corporations now undertake CSR activities. The term was coined in the 1950s, including in Bowen’s groundbreaking work “Social Responsibility of Businessmen.”[1] Bowen’s work marked a turning point, as it highlighted the fundamental requirement that companies pursue…
More...Last week, Clarmondial became a partner to the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI). With issuances up by ca. 25% from 2012 to 2013, and high rates of over-subscriptions, ‘green bonds’ and ‘climate bonds’ are taking off. This year has also seen the official launch of the voluntary Green Bond Principles (GBP) by a group of major…
More...By Tanja Havemann As a sector, agriculture has increasingly been in the spotlight since the 2008 commodity price spikes[i]. There are many reasons for this increasing interest, not least because global populations are increasing[ii], the rise in urbanisation[iii], change in diets[iv], and limited supply of agricultural land[v]. Added to this, the production goal posts are…
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