This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

  Data, Impact, and Accountability: Lessons from the 2024 Aid Transparency Index On July 16th, the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings hosted “ Aid data, impact, and the Sustainable Development Goals ” to spotlight the 2024 Aid Transparency Index launch. The event featured presentations by Gary Forester , Publish What You Find CEO, and Laurel Patterson , Director for SDG Integration at the United Nations Development Programme, Global Policy Network. Brookings Senior Fellow George Ingram then moderated a panel discussion consisting of Christophe Tocco , Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator at USAID, Zacharey Carmichael , Senior Economist for Agriculture & Food Global Practice at the World Bank, and Samuel Kobina Annim , Professor of Economics and Head of the Ghana Statistical Service. Forester’s presentation focused primarily on what was revealed in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index , which surveyed over 166,000 independent aid projects. The index achieved its...

Luke Nelson (left) and Eric Gordon (right) at the Semafor Fintech Conference Insights from Semafor’s “Banking on the Future: The Next Era of Fintech” Conference Last week, the global news organization Semafor hosted a conference featuring prominent fintech leaders discussing the industry's future amid recent technological, political, and legal developments. Fintech is fundamentally reshaping financial systems, influencing consumers' daily lives worldwide, often without their explicit recognition. At the conference, I was particularly captivated by discussions on the scale of Fintech’s adoption, the impact of Section 1033, and the implications of advancements in artificial intelligence. Witnessing industry leaders discuss their excitement about the future revealed the collaborative efforts driving technological and regulatory innovation in the Fintech sector. Fintech is here to stay: Nearly 9 out of 10 people today utilize Fintech applications, and the average person uses 3 to 4...