Can you make an impact? Anthropologists and sustainable finance - Stefan Voicu and Ben Eyre

For several years now the financial industry has been enrolled, more or less voluntarily, in the global quest for sustainability. Sustainable finance is currently a complex, variegated field of practices and discourses which claims to invest in projects that have, in the best case scenario, a positive impact on society and the planet, or, worst case scenario at least avoid having a negative one, while also making returns. This article focuses on investors practicing a sustainable investment strategy called impact investing, reflecting on a question we were asked at one of the field’s main annual conferences in late 2023: “how can you leverage anthropology to make an impact?” We reflect on what this question actually means, draw parallels between impact investing and development programs, and explore different answers given by both academic and applied anthropologists to show how anthropologists think about finance and sustainability, and how are their ideas informed by and transformed into actions.Article by Stefan Voicu and Ben Eyre, illustrated by Cristina Labohttps://theanthro.art/can-you-make-an-impact-anthropologists-and-sustainable-finance/

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AnthroArt – Action for People and Planet is an initiative of three applied anthropology organisations – Antropedia, Namla and Ambigrama – that aims to create an international platform for connecting anthropology and art, with the purpose of deepening awareness about inequality and our relation with the environment and driving change across three geographies: Romania, The Netherlands and Portugal, as well as beyond.AnthroArt – Action for People and Planet is a two-year project (2023-2024) co-funded by the European Commision, under the Creative Europe Programme (CREA).***Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.