Impact heavyweights fight for people-led COVID recovery
21 September 2020 at 5:54 pm
Leaders’ Declaration calls to put impact at the heart of economies
Over 300 CEOs, executives, business leaders, philanthropists and government figures have signed onto a declaration calling for a set of COVID-19 recovery measures they say will serve people and the planet.
The Leaders’ Declaration – addressed to G7 and G20 leaders, finance ministers and central bank governors – outlines solutions identified during the 2020 Global Impact Summit earlier this month that attempt to address the social and environmental challenges ahead of a post-COVID world.
Signatories of the declaration include Sir Ronald Cohen, chair of Global Steering Group for Impact Investment; Cliff Prior, CEO of Global Steering Group for Impact Investment; Darren Walker, president of Ford Foundation; Dame Elizabeth Corley, chair of Impact Investing Institute; and Rosemary Addis AM, executive director of Impact Strategist of the Global Steering Group Australia.
The declaration outlines three steps governments can take to put “impact at the heart of economies”, by scaling impact investment to combat unemployment, reduce inequality and preserve the environment; mandating impact transparency for companies so they publish audited financial accounts that reflect their social and environmental impacts; and introducing legislation to empower companies and investors to pursue impact alongside profit.
Signatories described the current time as “an historic crossroad”, and said that if urgent action wasn’t taken by leaders across all sectors, billions of people around the world would fall into further hardship.
“Our future is in our hands. There has never been a greater need or a greater time to transform our economies so they better serve society and preserve our planet,” they said.
“We call on everyone – governments, citizens, consumers, investors, companies and philanthropists – to support implementation of these measures and pave the way to a fairer and more sustainable world.”
Read more: Philanthropy’s role in the impact revolution
Cohen told Pro Bono News the challenge now was making sure advocates engaged with political leaders to get impact on the political agenda.
“Our challenge now is to make governments aware that there is huge popular support for this,” Cohen said.
“We need huge pressure from investors and philanthropists and some business leaders [to make companies] provide transparency on the impact they create.”
See a full list of the signatories here.
