Join us! Next week, Charles, Snehal and Toby, along with various other journalists from across the PEI Group stable, will be joining 500-plus delegates at the Impact Investor Global Summit in London.

It promises to be fascinating event, not just because of its scale (we’ve moved to a larger venue this year to accomodate the growing interest) or the quality of the agenda, speakers and networking, but because it is a pivotal time for investors to be coming together to discuss impact, whether they describe themselves as “impact investors” or not.

What themes are we watching out for this year?

LP appetite: A host of allocators on day one will be taking delegates through both their priority themes and how they want to access them. These discussions take on additional significance amid a more challenging private markets fundraising.

Fiduciary duty: How does the “Go woke, go broke” anti-ESG rhetoric that has bubbled up in the US square with institutional investors aligning their investment strategies with sustainability trends? A panel on day one will tackle the issue head on, but we are sure the topic will infuse plenary sessions and coffee stands throught the conference.

Checking in on EU SFDR and impact data: It wouldn’t be the Impact Investor Global Summit without GPs and LPs comparing notes and looking for guidance on how they are approaching EU sustainable finance regulation and how they are handling impact data. Both are firmly on the agenda.

Secondaries: We set out our stall in January predicting that 2023 would be the year that the secondaries market takes on a decidedly sustainability/impact feel. Next week’s conference features, for the first time, a secondaries-focused panel.

Social impact: The immediacy and scale of the climate crisis has captured the imagination and capital of many investors (CalSTRS, for example). We’ll be watching for signs that issues relating directly to people – rather than planet – are resurfacing as investor priorities.