‘All hands on deck’: Global Impact Leaders bring expertise to world’s challenges

One of Australia’s foremost minds in the impact investing space has been invited to take part in a new network of impact leaders.

A new network of impact practitioners, drawn from around the world, will use their expertise to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the planet.

The Sorenson Impact Center has brought together 71 leaders in the impact investment space to form the Global Impact Leaders. The initiative will “recognise, elevate and amplify” their work on social and environmental problems. 

It is chaired by Matthew Bishop, senior fellow at the Sorenson Impact Center.

Rosemary Addis AM, co-founder of Impact Investing Australia and founding managing partner of Mondiale Impact, is one of the delegates in the initiative.

She told Pro Bono News she’s “humbled and pleased” to have been invited to join, and is looking forward to working collaboratively with other leaders in the impact investment field.

“The idea [is] that we can achieve more in some areas collectively than we can working alone,” she explained.

“I’m looking forward to contributing and to having this as another point of really structured engagement from colleagues so that we can all move faster in the work that we’re doing, and more effectively. 

“We’ve got a short time frame to reach the sustainable development goals based on the targets we’ve set and some really pressing challenges around climate and the interrelated social issues that we need to address. And we need all hands on deck, basically, people who can bring their experience to this.”

She said the leaders would be able to learn from each other and strengthen their skills to make better decisions on how to address these challenges. Over time, the inaugural group will invite others to join the Global Impact Leaders initiative, making it a sustainable circle of knowledge.

Addis said while the Sorenson initiative is unique, similar projects have run around the world, like the World Economic Forum’s young global leaders and shapers program, with each one trying to “solve the puzzle” in different ways.

The Global Impact Leaders have already had their first meeting, and Addis said she and her fellow delegates understood the urgency of the need to act.

“There’s never a bad time, in my view, to bring together people with a lot of good experience, to problem solve together and to see how we can move forward,” she said.

“But the markets are shifting. Governments are realising the need to act. There’s lots of pledges being made and people are getting stuck on how to translate those to action. 

“And the need for us to really be demonstrating progress in the next years, to be able to halt the effects of global warming, and to do that in a way that creates a just transition means we really need to act now.”

She also applauded the Sorenson Impact Center for bringing the group together.

“It always takes somebody to take that step of bringing together a collective and being prepared to auspice it and provide the platform,” Addis said. 

“I’d like to thank them for taking that role… and look forward to learning from the wealth of wisdom and experience that’s available within the group and bringing that into the global and local markets where they operate.”