The Global Impact Initiative strives to live up to its name in many ways.
As a United Nations Lead company, it also needs to comply with policies and
procedures covering the environment, sustainability, human rights and
labour. Before it commits to any investment, it needs to thoroughly know
about the groups it is backing and the investors it brings on board. Sure,
returns are as important as any other investor, but it also needs to align
in goals to socially impactful outcomes. CEO Giles Gunesekera says there
are some entities that GII will not deal with. They include businesses
operating in the fossil fuels, gaming, alcohol, tobacco, weapons and adult
entertainment industries.
“It’s about knowing the companies we deal with,” he says. “It’s about
having a good, diverse mix within businesses and generating returns in a
socially impactful way. We’ve always got an environmental and
sustainability lens around what we do.” There is a particular emphasis on
minimising greenhouse gas emissions. Within the group, it looks for the
most efficient travel alternatives to do that. Should it be face-to-face,
or are there other ways? When its people need somewhere to stay, they
consider environmentally friendly hotels or look at AirBnB options that may
be more sustainable. Any food served should be sourced locally, and
indigenous organisations are favoured where possible.
GII is one of 36 companies acknowledged globally by the United Nations as a
so-called LEAD company for its work with the UN Sustainability Development
Goals. This helps to create a better version of capitalism because it has a
conscience. It aims to ensure purpose and performance through education,
innovative advice and impact investment funding. It creates investments
under its own name for clients, including gender equality funds, a climate
fund and an affordable housing project.
Gunesekera says the nub of the organisation when it comes to greenhouse gas
emissions is to first sort out what they are and what can be done to reduce
them. He notes that people in Australia have a high propensity and desire
to travel at the moment, but in Europe COVID case numbers have been rising
and people remain wary. “I think there are going to be two distinct camps
when it comes to travel - those who have missed out on opportunities and
want to do it and those that see the big impact on greenhouse gases and
want to travel less.
“I think some people will be very diligent and fastidious about what
meetings they attend. Others will decide whether they really need to be at
certain meetings. It could be that, if I have a staff member in Melbourne
who can attend a meeting then I’ll dial in on Zoom and either run it or be
a fly on the wall. That could be a very legitimate way of managing travel
so that your client doesn’t feel that they are not important.” Gunesekera
said he would personally be diligent on GII’s travel budget. “I’m not in
the camp that we won’t be travelling at all, but I feel there will be fewer
trips that might be a little longer.”
He notes that people are very conscious of the impact they can have on
climate from a day-to-day perspective. We have been given an insight during
COVID on how we can change habits. “I don’t think that people will change
their personal habits, but many will think more carefully about travelling
for business purposes. People need to think more about greenhouse gas
emissions, because it’s a massive issue. There no real mitigator at the
moment for air travel other than buying carbon offsets. But, if you are
doing that, you are basically saying that the underlying product that I am
using is bad. It’s like telling your kids not to smoke, and then you smoke
two packets a day.