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Morningstar Introduces Industry’s First Sustainability Rating for 20,000 Global Funds
To help investors evaluate funds based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today introduced the Morningstar Sustainability Rating™ for funds. The new rating will enable investors around the world to evaluate mutual funds and exchange-traded funds based on how well the companies held in their funds are managing their ESG risks and opportunities.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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Interactive Graphic: The Top-Performing Socially Conscious Funds
Investing in socially-friendly funds is expanding rapidly. In the United States, at least $7 trillion is invested in strategies focused on environmental, social and corporate governance causes, so-called ESG strategies, an 89% increase since 2012, according to The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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New York Pension Fund Could Have Made Billions by Divesting From Fossil Fuels
New York State’s pension fund would have an additional $5.3bn to give to its retired employees if it had divested from fossil fuel companies and put that money into clean energy, according to a new report.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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Kiva’s New Fund Targets 1 Million Women Entrepreneurs – But How Much Impact Should We Expect?
Last week, the Inter-American Development Bank and the U.S. State Department joined microfinance pioneer Kiva to launch the Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund. The fund matches the contributions of lenders who respond to a woman entrepreneur’s loan request on Kiva’s online platform, and hopes to crowdfund loans for 1 million entrepreneurs. But in spite of the excitement around the announcement, questions about both Kiva’s approach and the broader microfinance model remain.
- Categories
- Investing
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Weekly Roundup: Uber, DriveU, Ola and the Greedy Sharing Economy in India
In a typically eventful week in social enterprise, the "social business" buzzword grew more obsolete, and we got a reminder of the many players eager to get their slice of the “sharing economy” - especially in India. Our editors discuss these developments in this roundup.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology, Transportation
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Gross Loan Portfolio Increases 39.3% in Pakistan’s Microfinance Sector
The gross loan portfolio of the microfinance sector increased 39.3% year on year (YoY) to reach Rs93 billion at the end of 2015.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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New Report Explores Activity, Challenges in Impact Investing in Southern Africa
In Southern Africa, the big action in impact investing is in South Africa. But even in that country, there are a great many challenges.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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DriveU Raises $1 Million From Unitus Seed Fund, Silicon Valley Angel Investors
At a time when ride hailing services such as Ola and Uber are rolling out offers to dissuade consumers from using personal vehicles, DriveU, an on-demand driver provider launched by an early backer of TaxiForSure, has raised about $1 million from Unitus Seed Fund and undisclosed angel investors from the Silicon Valley, said co-founder and chief executive Rahm Shastry.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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