Impact washing

At an impact investment session at LaunchVic/Stone & Chalk, and I wonder how much impact washing occurs in the Australian sector and what measures might help expose or prevent it, and whether just as one measures the onward positive impact of an investment dollar, it’s possible or desirable to track the impact origins of that same investment dollar. For couldn’t we inadvertently be laundering were it not the case?

With compulsory super contributions, and after a devastating Royal Commission into banking––not to mention a horrendous summer lit ablaze by bushfires––Australians are taking a more proactive interest in where their money goes and what it does. There is growing pressure on traditional institutions and particularly super funds to divest from fossil fuels and other unethical investments. Subsequently there's not only a pressing need for greater impact investing and a higher regard for effective altruism, but also a call for accountability and the kind of measures, controls and research that tracks the complete lifecycle of our money’s movement.