The world is currently lagging well behind target on many of the Sustainable Development Goals - but the challenge is particularly acute in Africa and the Global South.  

In this week's 20/30 Visions, we're delighted to welcome Dolika Banda, who after a long career with the International Finance Corporation now sits on a number of boards (including British International Investment) and has recently launched a new initiative promoting good corporate governance. Dolika draws on her vast experience of the banking, development finance and impact worlds to tell us what needs to change if we are going to narrow the gap between investment rhetoric and reality. We discuss:

• The scale and shape of the challenge in Africa (and the Global South more broadly)
• Why this matters to the Global North like never before
• Shifting dollars away from climate mitigation to adaptation and resilience
• The problem of 'inexplicable inequalities'
• How we change investors' perception of risk in emerging markets
• The vast gap between commitments and disbursements (and how to resolve it)
• and more...

Produced & presented by James Taylor
Editing by Jake Hatt @ Free Bird Film

Watch the videos at www.bridgesfundmanagement.com/2030visions

It’s clear that we need more big investors to allocate more of their capital towards sustainability and impact. But what does this actually look like in practice? How do institutions get from broad ambitions or long-term commitments (achieving Net Zero, say) to specific portfolio construction decisions?

These are the some of the questions we address in 20/30 Visions this week with our guest Graham Cook, who leads on responsible investment at The Phoenix Group. Graham was previously CIO at the Environment Agency Pension Fund, where he put together an industry-leading sustainable investment programme. Now he’s applying some of the same principles at Phoenix, albeit on a substantially bigger scale. We discuss:

• The key steps in implementing a Net Zero commitment
• Setting the right benchmarks
• Working with pooling partners
• The importance of natural capital
• Why things could get worse before they get better
• and more...

Produced & presented by James Taylor
Editing by Jake Hatt @ Free Bird Film

Watch the videos at www.bridgesfundmanagement.com/2030visions

We are hugely reliant on nature; it is the bedrock of a healthy society and a healthy economy. Yet the human race continues to damage nature in profound ways. We urgently need to invest in restoring nature - but the current funding gap between existing commitments and the amount required is thought to be around $700bn a year globally.

For this episode of 20/30 Visions, we caught up with James Alexander, chair of Finance Earth, a social enterprise set up to try and channel more private and public capital to invest in nature, climate and communities. We discuss:

• The scale and urgency of the challenge we face when it comes to nature
• Why natural capital solutions may be the key to tackling climate change
• How the UK government is trying to kick-start the market
• Marrying his passion for sustainability with his interest in innovative finance
• The challenge of human nature
• Why it's time to mandate action - and punish laggards
• and more...

Produced & presented by James Taylor
Editing by Jake Hatt @ Free Bird Film

Watch the videos at www.bridgesfundmanagement.com/2030visions