Engaging with policymakers

Driving policy and regulation that puts impact investing at the heart of capital markets

We inform policy that helps impact investing thrive. We engage with government ministers, civil servants, Members of Parliament, and regulators, facilitating conversations around key issues and feeding into formal consultations. 

Our policy positions are rooted in our mission to make capital markets fairer and work better for people and the planet. 

Working in coalition

We aim to unlock barriers to impact investing and we believe change only happens in coalition. That is why we work across financial services, policymakers, standard setters, and industry bodies to inform regulation that supports impact investing. 

Advising on policy

To help drive systemic change we are members and co-chairs of several leading advisory groups, including:

• Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Disclosures and Labels Advisory Group – advises on sustainability-related financial disclosure, sustainable classification, and investment product labelling.
• UK Transition Plan Taskforce – aims to produce a ‘gold standard’ for mandatory plans for the private sector to transition to net zero. We co-lead the Taskforce’s Just Transition Working Group.
• Department of Work and Pension’s Taskforce on Social Factors – a cross-departmental taskforce identifying data to enable pension schemes to assess financially material social risks and opportunities when making investment decisions. 
• Stakeholder Discussion Forum – advises the UK government on its green finance programme.

Internationally, we partner with organisations including the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) and the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) to foster a supportive environment for impact investing worldwide.

Our successes

We build relationships and add our voice where it serves our goal to mobilise private capital for public good. Our successes include:

• We informed the UK government’s recommendation of a 5% local investment target for the Local Government Pension Scheme. This could catalyse £16 billion of investment into underserved communities. Research by Alpha Real Capital in 2022 shows 89% of LGPS funds intend to increase allocations to place-based investing.
  
• We successfully advocated for the issuance of £16 billion of green gilts by the UK government. The inaugural issuance in September 2021 received the Largest Green Sovereign Bond award from the Climate Bonds Initiative.
  
• We contributed to the lowering of the note issuance threshold for Retail Charity Bonds from £10 million to £5 million. This could allow a further 5,000 charities in the UK to access debt markets.