The Drawdown Agenda

Fergal Byrne

Episode 14: Towards Drawdown 2.0 with Dr. Jonathan Foley


Two years on from the book’s publication, the Drawdown team have got their sights on how they can turn their groundbreaking research into action. In this interview, we talk to Drawdown Executive Director Dr. Jonathan Foley to reflect on the research’s impact and discuss plans for Drawdown 2.0, the next iteration of Drawdown that will help implement solutions across sectors and across the globe.As a renowned scientist and science communicator, Jonathan tells us that he initially admired Drawdown from afar before taking over as director from Paul Hawken. According to Jonathan, Drawdown’s core strengths lie in how it combines rigorous scientific research with strong storytelling. Moreover, by setting a clearly defined goal to reverse global warming, it has resonated with both the public and those leadership positions. We also take a broad look at Drawdown’s research and reflect on some of the key takeaways,


Financing Social Entrepreneurs

Fergal Byrne

Episode 24: Interview with Jed Emerson


Jed Emerson has been an influential leader in changing the way capital is invested in order to drive social change, and coined the terms Blended Value and Total Portfolio Management.  He has been awarded a Life Time appointment to North America’s Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior, and selected twice as one of the 50 Most Influential People in the Sector by NonProfit Times.  He is a Senior Advisor to family offices in Asia, the United States and Europe.  He is a Senior Fellow with both Toniic, a global impact investing network, and ImpactAssets, a nonprofit financial services firm, and a Senior Research Fellow with the Center for Social Investment at Heidelberg University in Germany.


The Sustainability Agenda

Fergal Byrne

Episode 191: Sir Ronald Cohen, "the father of social investment," discusses how to reshape capitalism to drive real change.


A fascinating deep dive on impact investment with Sir Ronald Cohen, “the father of social investment.” This is a spirited discussion about Sir Ronald’s book, Impact, exploring his vision of how impact investing is reshaping capitalism to deliver a form of capitalism that can deal with the profound social and environmental challenges we are facing—issues which he is passionate about. Sir Ronald believes financial institutions are changing profoundly -and is hugely optimistic about the work being done today on measuring impact, notably the Harvard Business School IWA impact weighted accounts project—making the connection between market value and pollution explicit. This in turn brings Ronnie’s vision closer:  a world where investors can measure companies impact and “help change the behaviour of companies so that they bring solution


Inspiring Social Entrepreneurs Podcast

Fergal Byrne

Episode 111: Stanford Business School’s Professor Neil Malhotra on how to create and sustain solutions to systemic problems


A fascinating, wide-ranging, and spirited discussion about the state of social entrepreneurship and innovation today, touching on key questions including how to effectively measure impact, the true availability of impact investment, how to manage hybrid social businesses –as well as the challenges social entrepreneurs face keeping focussed on the mission while generating cash flow and profit. Professor Malhotra also discusses some of the  research and insights from his recent book Frontiers in Social Innovation-and reflects on some of the key trends that will impact future social innovation.  Neil Malhotra is the Edith M. Cornell Professor of Political Economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Louise and Claude N. Rosenberg, Jr. Director of the Center for Social Innovation, where he has developed a curriculum focused on soc

Links