Sir Ronald Cohen is Leading a Revolution: Valuing Impact for the $40 Trillion ESG Industry (#073)

My guest today is Sir Ronald Cohen, often referred to as "the father of British venture capital" and "the father of impact investing."

 As Co-founder and President of GSG Impact, Sir Ronald is leading a revolution to transform how the financial world measures and reports a company's value by including its net impact on people and our planet. 

Early in his career, he co-founded Apax Partners, one of the oldest and largest international private equity firms. His ability to anticipate market shifts – a principle which he calls “the second bounce of the ball” – was key to his success.

However, he saw his financial success was also increasing inequality, prompting him to create new tools like the Social Impact Bond, which ties investor returns to measurable social benefits.

Through his latest initiative, the International Foundation for Valuing Impact (IFVI), Sir Ronald has established rules to standardize impact valuation in financial terms, akin to how GAAP standardizes financial disclosures for US publicly traded companies.

IFVI is working to establish a global framework that quantifies social and environmental impact in monetary terms. The foundation provides open-source data, methodologies, and valuation metrics to ensure transparency and consistency in impact measurement across industries.

IFVI is already gaining traction among major financial institutions, corporations, and regulators. By integrating impact into core business and investment strategies, IFVI aims to reshape markets – ensuring that companies reducing carbon emissions, improving labor conditions, and fostering social equity are rewarded not just ethically, but financially.

This marks a fundamental shift in capitalism, one that aligns profit with purpose and empowers investors to accelerate the transition toward a more sustainable and equitable global economy.

With over $40 trillion invested in ESG and impact funds today, he believes we are on the brink of a financial revolution – one where companies are no longer valued solely by net income as we do today but by the total financial value that their operations contribute to people and our planet.

Tune in and meet the true visionary of impact investing!

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Key Takeaways:

• Intro (00:00)
• Sir Ronald's background (03:48)
• Discovering venture capital at Harvard (13:17)
• Founding Apax Partners and shaping the European VC landscape (19:28)
• Co-founding IFVI (33:16)
• The potential for impact accounting to drive innovation (45:41)
• The “brown-to-green” transition and the role of impact measurement (54:09)
• The challenges of aligning IFVI’s methodology globally (01:04:23)
• Sir Ronald's advice for impact investors (01:09:05)
• Rapid Fire Questions (01:17:19)
• Contact info (01:20:22)

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Additional Resources:

Connect with Sir Ronald Cohen:
🔹Website

🔹X

🔹LinkedIn

GSG Impact website

GSG Impact LinkedIn

IFVI website

Book: "Impact: Reshaping Capitalism to Drive Real Change"

Yuka App

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