Inside Impact Investing

Laure Wessemius-Chibrac and Hadewych Kuiper - The 10% challenge: how impact investing is entering the institutional space 12.07.2026 40min

This episode focuses on a big question: can impact investing become the serious, mainstream allocation for institutional investors or will it remain a niche?Institutional investors like pension funds, insurers, banks and asset managers manage enormous pools of capital. At the same time, the funding needed to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is still measured in trillions. The Netherlands Advisory Board on Impact Investing (NAB) refers to an annual SDG financing need of more than USD 4 trillion, which cannot be met without mobilising private capital.  And yet, impact investing is still relatively small compared with total institutional portfolios. That is exactly where the 10% impact target defined by the NAB comes in: a voluntary ambition encouraging Dutch institutional investors to allocate at least 10% of their AuM to impact investments by 2025. Karel Nierop discusses the progress made towards this goal with Laure Wessemius-Chibrac, Managing Director at NAB and Hadewych Kuiper, Managing Director at Triodos IM. They also talk about the bottlenecks and potential solutions to scale impact investing in the institutional space.Learn more about the NAB's 10% impact target here: 10% Target Programme | NAB impact investing Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bert Stuij and Sonja de Ruiter - Investing in the next phase of the energy transition 01.06.2026 24min

In this episode, Karel Nierop discusses the investment opportunities of the next phase in the energy transition with Bert Stuij, Manager National Programs/Energy at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Sonja de Ruiter, Head of Fund Management at Triodos Investment Management.The war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have made energy independence once again a top priority for Europe. The pattern looks familiar: we saw the same initial reaction after Russia invaded Ukraine but the momentum dropped soon thereafter, and the past years have even been quite tough for the renewable energy sector. Is the current situation different? What is needed to propel the energy transition into the next phase where it will really drive a green future for Europe? Which bottle necks need to be addressed, which technologies are needed, and how can investors help scaling them? Tune into this episode to learn more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Sokolowski and Dimitri Willems - The impact potential of small- and midcap companies 09.03.2026 25min

In this episode, we take a closer look at the impact potential of impact investing in small and midcap companies. Podcast host Rosl Veltmeijer sits down with Alex Sokolowski, Head of Investor Relations at Corbion, and Dimitri Willems, Fund Manager of the Triodos Pioneer Impact Fund to discuss the role small and midcap companies play in a world where sustainability and ESG are under severe pressure, how important they are in driving positive change and what challenges and opportunities they are facing.Key topics discussed in this episode include:How important are small- and midcap companies in driving positive change in society? Are there sufficient investment opportunities in this segment for impact investing? Does the current ESG backlash influence the strategy of a company like Corbion? What effect does the changing regulatory landscape, for instance regarding the mandatory sustainability reporting and supply chain due diligence, have on companies like Corbion and impact investors such as Triodos Investment Management? What are the differences in engagement strategies between mainstream investors and impact investors? and how effective is engagement?Read more about impact investing in small- en midcap companies here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nicky van Dijk and Sven Renon - What's left of the climate commitments of the financial sector? 10.12.2025 26min

In this episode, Karel Nierop assesses how financial institutions are progressing on their emissions reduction targets with Nicky van Dijk, Lead Researcher for the Climate Court Case against ING at the Dutch NGO Milieudefensie, and Sven Renon, Sustainability Researcher at Triodos Bank.Following the ESG-backlash, financial institutions have abandoned their voluntary climate commitments en masse. Triodos Bank recently also revised its climate strategy and no longer claims to be net zero in 2035. The bank also left the Net Zero Banking Alliance. So where do we stand? Is the financial sector still on track to reach the goals set by the Paris Climate Agreement? Has Triodos given up on climate? Or has the time come for more rigorous action?This is a follow up from the podcast on bank’s climate commitments we recorded in 2024: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jawpf3a08cuEuyTZK5YFh?si=0pJHIMdXT72SVNRzUF-Glw Learn more about Scope 3 emissions here: What are Scope 3 emissions and why do they matter? | The Carbon Trust Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joop Hessels and Jeroen van Herwaarden - Does the EU Green Bond Standard deliver on its promise? 14.10.2025 24min

In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses first experiences applying the EU Green Bond Standard in practice with Joop Hessels, Executive Director and Head of Sustainable Markets at ABN-Amro and Jeroen van Herwaarden, fund manager of the Triodos Euro Bond Impact Fund.The EU Green Bond Standard is a new standard for use-of-proceeds bonds. Like any other bond label, it is a voluntary standard introduced by the European Commission as part of the broader EU Action Plan. Launched in December 2024 with the purpose of stimulating green investments, it has been tested for almost a year now. A good moment to evaluate how it works in practice with two specialists. Joop Hessels looks at the EU GBS from an issuer perspective whereas Jeroen van Herwaarden approaches the topic from the investor angle. This episode is a follow-up on a previous podcast we did on the EU Taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4lOww9NohwzUmIN9wH2faS?si=yKCkdUL3Qv-kkNIXKGt5bw Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Goodwin and Sjoerd Rozing - How investors can contribute to the online safety of children 15.09.2025 21min

In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer sits down with Matt Goodwin, Head of Sustainable Investing at the Global Child Forum, and Sjoerd Rozing, portfolio manager Future Generations at Triodos Investment Management, to explore the concept of Child Lens Investing from the perspective of online safety for children. Children are our future - future consumers, workers, innovators and caregivers. Yet, despite their significance, their interests are often overlooked in economic and financial decision-making. Investors play a crucial role in shaping the world that future generations will inherit. By applying a child lens to investing, they can move beyond short-term returns and focus on building a sustainable, inclusive and thriving global economy.Read more about the concept of Child Lens Investing in this handbook: Investor Handbook Child-Lens InvestingMore about Global Child Forum can be found on their website: globalchildforum.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Kuijper and Judith Santbergen - Understanding the impact potential of blended finance 17.06.2025 31min

In this episode, Karel Nierop explores the intriguing landscape of blended finance with David Kuijper, CEO of The Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI) and Judith Santbergen, Fund Manager of the Hivos-Triodos Fonds, a blended finance instrument avant-la-lettre. Kuijper explains what blended finance entails and how it is needed to get important transitions going, especially in emerging markets. Santbergen elaborates on Hivos-Triodos Fonds' ability to do smaller transactions, focusing on SMEs in high impact sectors in emerging markets. Tailored to meet investors’ requirements - be it fiduciary or regulatory - blended finance can open new markets and offer diversification. Despite the difficulties in scaling up, both guests see strong opportunities for blended finance. Given the demographic developments with Europe ageing and declining in population while the global south is young and growing, combined with Europe’s enormous amount of pension savings, there is an urgent need to transition European private capital to emerging markets. Blended finance facilities can help change the direction of private capital flows, for example in sectors where blended finance has proven to work like renewable energy and resilient infrastructure. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kayoko Lyons and Tim Crijns - Investing in financial inclusion 06.05.2025 24min

In this episode Karel Nierop sits down with Kayoko Lyons, Director of Investments at the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and Tim Crijns, Portfolio Manager Financial Inclusion at Triodos Investment Management to explore the world of financial inclusion. Tim explains how microfinance works, why the actual risks are often lower than perceived, and how local economies show strong resilience. Kayoko shares her investment journey, highlighting the crucial role of financial services in economic development and encouraging new investors to be bold, start small and do something. Together, they discuss future trends, the role of technology, and the importance of maintaining a strong impact mission. The episode closes with practical insights into how investors can contribute responsibly to expanding global financial access.More information about the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart: Welcome to the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus | Bringing Christ's love to the worldMore information about the benefits of backing financial services in emerging markets: The benefits of backing financial services in emerging markets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lewis Johnston and Joeri de Wilde - Could the ESG backlash kill sustainable investing? 25.03.2025 28min

The geopolitical storm we are in has accelerated a development that was already visible for some years: a fierce backlash on ESG. In this podcast, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the implications of this backlash with Lewis Johnston, director of policy at ShareAction and Triodos economist Joeri de Wilde. Together they analyse the events and circumstances that led to the ESG backlash and try to answer the question if we are witnessing a structural shift away from ESG investing or only a temporary setback.Read Joeri's column 'No shift away from sustainability' here: BlackRock never really had sustainable ambitions, more and more citizens doFind out more about the activities of ShareAction here: ShareAction | Harness the power of investment  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Diallo and Mareike Hussels - Investing in Nature-based Solutions 21.01.2025 28min

In this episode, Karel Nierop discusses how we can make finance work for nature instead of against with David Diallo, founder of Berlin-based startup goodcarbon, and Mareike Hussels, product development manager for Nature-based Solutions at Triodos Investment Management. The term Nature-based Solutions pops up in the news more and more often but is also still a bit vague for most people. Triodos recently made a commitment to provide at least EUR 500 million in investments, loans and contributions to the Nature-based Solutions sector by the end of 2030 as part of its biodiversity targets. The IPCC ranks certain Nature-based Solutions among the most promising ways to tackle the climate crisis.   But what are Nature-based Solutions exactly? Why is the IPCC so enthusiastic about them? And do they represent an interesting investment case? These are the questions that are addressed in this podcast.Read more about Triodos' commitment to the Nature-based Solutions sector here: Triodos Bank nature-based solutions commitmentMore about the partnership with goodcarbon can be found here: investment Hivos-Triodos Fonds: goodcarbon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ronald Huisman and Kay van der Kooi - Is the energy transition becoming a victim of its own success? 10.12.2024 26min

In this episode, Karel Nierop discusses the challenges and opportunities of an energy system under construction with Ronald Huisman, Professor for Sustainable Energy Finance at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (amongst others), and Kay van der Kooi, Senior Investment Manager at Triodos Investment Management.The energy transition in Europe is in full swing. A main component is the electrification of many processes: from transport and heating to highly energy-intensive industrial processes. This means a large buildout of both generation and consumption of electricity. While the process of electrification is taking up speed, the energy system, which was designed with fossil fuels in mind, is squeaking and creaking. Examples include waiting lines for electricity connection in construction projects and negative energy prices during peak electricity production. Will the initial success now threaten to undermine the energy transition?Interested in learning more about this topic? Read Kay van der Kooi's blog on net congestion here: What’s the hold-up? On the Ins and Outs of Grid Congestion Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dirk Schoenmaker and William de Vries - Impact investing on public markets 21.11.2024 32min

In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses how to achieve meaningful impact by investing in stock listed companies with Dirk Schoenmaker, Professor of Banking and Finance at Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) and William de Vries, Director Impact Equities and Bonds at Triodos Investment Management.Impact investing is often associated with direct or private investing but is it also possible to invest with impact in public markets (stock listed investments)? And if so, how can this be realised? Dirk Schoenmaker explains that while financing the changemakers is important, it is essential to also finance established companies that are willing to transition in order to shift the system. William de Vries elaborates on the importance of engagement in achieving impact with listed companies. He also emphasises the added value of collaboration with like minded investors. Important takeaway of the discussion: not all impact can be quantified and attributed but the most important thing is that change actually happens.Interested to learn more about generating impact by investing is listed equities? Read this article Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Esther Griffioen and Jie Chen - Purpose and practice of the EU Taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard 23.08.2024 22min

This podcast episode focuses on two pieces of European legislation aimed at supporting the low-carbon transition: the EU Taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard. Green bonds play an important role in financing the assets needed for the green transition. With the European Green Bond Standard, the EU wants to set a clear standard for green bonds, based on the detailed criteria of the EU taxonomy to define green economic activities. Portfolio Manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the ins and outs of both policies and how they work in practice with Esther Griffioen, Deputy head of Policy and Risk Management at the Dutch State Treasury Agency and Jie Chen, Investment Analyst at Triodos Investment Management - covering both the issuers’ and the investors’ side of green bonds.More information about the EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities can be found hereMore information about the EU Green Bond Standard can be found here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quinten Aubineau and Sven Renon - What's behind banks' net zero commitments? 13.06.2024 27min

In this podcast episode, Karel Nierop discusses what's behind the net zero commitments of the financial sector with Quinten Aubineau, Policy Analyst at bank Track, and Sven Renon, Impact Manager at Triodos Bank.Since the Paris climate agreement, most banks and asset managers have committed themselves to a net zero strategy to be in line with a 1,5-degree global warming scenario. But what does net zero exactly mean? And why is it important for financial institutions to have a net zero strategy in place? Quinten Aubineau explains that having a net zero goal is nice but having a concrete action plan in place to get there is even more important. Sven Renon elaborates on the challenges Triodos Bank is facing on the road to net zero.More information about Triodos Bank's net zero strategy can be found hereMore information about Bank Track can be found here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike McCreless and Rebecca Spohrer - The challenges of Impact Performance Reporting 22.04.2024 26min

In this podcast episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the challenges of impact performance reporting with Mike McCreless, Executive Director at Impact Frontiers, and Rebecca Spohrer, Impact Manager at Triodos Investment Management. How to report on impact is a much-debated topic within the impact investing industry. To create a common ground for impact reporting, Mike McCreless's Impact Frontiers have created a set of impact reporting norms, based on a public consultation. Together with Triodos Impact Manager Rebecca Spohrer, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses these norms and how they were developed as well as the general challenges and pitfalls of Impact Reporting.Impact Frontiers' impact reporting norms can be found hereTriodos IMs 2023 impact reports can be found here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nancy Bocken - Investing in the circular economy 28.02.2024 26min

Our current linear, growth-based economy uses vast quantities of resources to make things which we consume and then throw away. This system depletes finite raw materials and produces vast quantities of waste. In this episode of Inside Impact Investing, fund manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses how we can turn our linear economy into a circular one with Professor in Sustainable Business Nancy Bocken (Maastricht University) and Chief Economist Hans Stegeman (Triodos Bank). Together, they analyse the role of the financial sector in enabling this transition which goes against the logic of our current market economy and forces us to fundamentally rethink the logic of markets, including the role of investors therein.Paper: Pursuing profitability in slow fashionFast fashion is a prime example of our current linear economy with a business model relying on consumers endlessly buying more clothes. Its circular opposite is slow fashion, which embodies products that are made to last, and can be serviced to extend the lifespan. But can slow fashion also be profitable? Read the paper by Nancy Bocken and Sasha Sarokin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zoë du Chattel and Hadewych Kuiper - What's next for the SFDR? 04.01.2024 29min

The EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which has taken effect in March 2021, was one of the first regulatory initiatives stemming from the 2018 EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan. It is a sustainability-related disclosure framework for financial market participants and financial advisers focusing on the integration of sustainability risk and the consideration of adverse sustainability impact in the investment process. Since the implementation there has been criticism on its effect. In 2023, the European Commission therefor initiated a consultation on the SFDR.  Both the Dutch financial market authority AFM and Triodos IM published a position paper on how to improve the SFDR. In this podcast episode, Portfolio Manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the overlap and the differences between the two positions with Zoë du Chattel, Senior Supervision Officer at AFM and Hadewych Kuiper, Managing Director at Triodos Investment Management.One of the conclusions is that both the AFM and Triodos IM are in favor of a minimum level of disclosure for all funds to create a level-playing field and that both would like to convert the current transparency regime into a labelling regime so retail investors can easily see which product is more or less sustainable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ingrid Robeyns - The case for limitarianism 22.11.2023 29min

Ingrid Robeyns holds the Chair in ‘Ethics of Institutions’ at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University. She is specialised in applied and "non-ideal" ethics and political philosophy and works on the development of normative frameworks, theories, and methods. In this podcast episode, she discusses her new book “Limitarianism. The Case Against Extreme Wealth” with Chief Economist Hans Stegeman. Together they explore why extreme wealth is problematic and why it is so difficult to address limits. They also look at possible solutions, especially from within the financial sector. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jennifer Hinton - Post-growth economics 24.10.2023 29min

Jennifer Hinton is a systems researcher and ecological economist. She is also a co-director of the Post Growth Institute, a global network of researchers and activists seeking pathways beyond the growth-based economic system. Her work focuses on how societies relate to profit and how this relationship affects global sustainability challenges. In conversation with Hans Stegeman, Jennifer elaborates on the key insights of her research into post-growth economics. Together, they explore the role of finance in the current unsustainable economy and which role it should play in the transition to a post-growth economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sasha Zoueva and Rebecca Spohrer - How to manage and measure impact 06.07.2023 34min

Impact investing is gaining ground rapidly. With capital inflows growing and regulation increasing, there is a need for clear definitions and standard practices in impact management and measurement (IMM). In this episode, fund manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses some essential questions with IMM experts Sasha Zoueva, Director of Strategic Learning and Impact at the Rockefeller Foundation and Rebecca Spohrer, Impact Manager at Triodos Investment Management: What is impact, exactly? Can it be measured and managed? What do regulators expect from us? What are the challenges and what is the quality of current impact data?Useful linksOperating Principles for Impact Management: https://www.impactprinciples.org/9-principlesImpact Management Platform: https://impactmanagementplatform.org/GIIN’s IRIS+ taxonomy: https://iris.thegiin.org/The Social Value International principles: https://www.socialvalueint.org/principlesTheory of Change: https://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/ten-steps/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.