SRI360 | Sustainable & Responsible Investing, Impact Investing, ESG, Socially Responsible Investing

Impact investing is entering a more disciplined, outcomes-driven phase, and it’s more complex than it first appears. In this episode of Sustainable & Responsible Investing 360, I sit down with Amel Karboul, Founder and CEO of the Education Outcomes Fund, to explore how capital can be tied directly to measurable results.
Drawing on her experience working with governments, philanthropies, and impact investors, Amel explains why traditional funding models often fail to deliver real impact, and how outcomes-based financing aims to realign incentives across the system. Rather than paying for activities, this model pays for results, introducing both greater accountability and new challenges.
We explore the tensions at the heart of this approach, from balancing different stakeholder expectations to addressing concerns around investor returns in low-income markets. We also discuss the risk of narrowing impact to what can be measured, and how thoughtful design can mitigate those trade-offs.
Looking ahead, we examine what it will take for outcomes-based models to scale, from simplification and standardization to the potential emergence of more tradable forms of impact.
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Scott Arnell’s Book: Sustainable & Responsible Investing 360
Amel Karboul on LinkedIn
Amel Karboul: Ted Talk
Education Outcome Fund Website

Impact investing is entering a new phase, and it’s more nuanced than the headlines suggest. In this episode of Sustainable & Responsible Investing 360, I sit down with returning guest Eric Rice for his third appearance to unpack what’s really happening across global markets.
Drawing on his experience at Wellington Management and BlackRock, and now in private markets with SEAF (Small Enterprise Assistance Funds), Eric explains why this moment reflects divergence rather than decline. While the US has stepped back from ESG language, Europe, Japan, and other regions are accelerating capital deployment and regulatory support.
We explore the limits of impact capital in replacing development aid, especially in the wake of shifts at USAID, and why commercial discipline remains central to the model. We also discuss the growing role of pension funds, the expansion of investable opportunities, and the shift toward financial materiality.
Looking ahead, we turn to climate adaptation and resilience as emerging areas of focus, offering opportunity, but still evolving in terms of scale and structure.
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Eric Rice Episode 009: https://sri360.com/podcast/eric-rice/ 
Eric Rice Episode 088: https://sri360.com/podcast/eric-rice-2/ 
Scott Arnell’s Book: Sustainable & Responsible Investing 360

What does climate investing look like when it actually delivers returns?
In this special compilation episode of Sustainable & Responsible Investing 360, I bring together three investors approaching the climate opportunity from very different angles, yet arriving at a similar conclusion.
First, Ben Guest of Gresham House explains why battery energy storage is the missing piece of the renewable energy transition. As intermittent power sources like wind and solar scale, storage becomes essential to balancing the grid, and a compelling infrastructure investment with double-digit return potential.
Next, Nancy Pfund, founder of DBL Partners, shares over two decades of experience in what she calls “double bottom line” investing. As an early backer of companies like Tesla, she demonstrates that incorporating environmental and social considerations doesn’t dilute returns; it can enhance them by expanding the opportunity set.
Finally, Lena Thiede of Planet A Ventures introduces a more rigorous approach to impact. With an in-house science team conducting lifecycle assessments on every investment, her firm ensures that climate impact is not just intended, but measurable, and tied directly to performance.
Three perspectives across infrastructure, venture capital, and science.
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Ben Guest full episode: https://sri360.com/podcast/ben-guest/
Nancy Pfund full episode: https://sri360.com/podcast/nancy-pfund/
Lena Thiede full episode: https://sri360.com/podcast/lena-thiede/
Scott Arnell’s Book: Sustainable & Responsible Investing 360

What if the real constraint in impact investing isn’t a lack of capital… but how that capital is structured?
This is a compilation episode built from three conversations, each tackling a different part of the same question. What is catalytic capital? How do you create the conditions for it? And what happens when you deploy it at scale?
You’ll hear from Yasemin Saltuk Lamy, Head of Investment Strategy at Legal & General, who helped define impact investing during her time at J.P. Morgan and later led the Catalyst portfolio at British International Investment. She breaks down catalytic capital as capital that steps into spaces others won’t, and explains how structuring it as junior or first-loss capital can transform “too risky” opportunities into investment-grade assets for institutional investors.
From Stephen Muers, CEO of Better Society Capital, who shares how the UK built the infrastructure to support this kind of investing. Drawing on a unique funding model that includes dormant bank accounts and private bank capital, he explains how catalytic capital can be used to grow entire markets, not just individual portfolios, and why the UK’s social impact investment market has expanded more than 12-fold.
And from Michele Giddens, Co-Founder and CEO of Bridges Fund Management, who shows what execution looks like in practice. Starting with a £40 million fund anchored by £10 million of government catalytic capital, Bridges has gone on to mobilize over £2 billion in private investment while delivering competitive, often double-digit returns.
If you’re thinking about how capital can be deployed more intentionally, whether as an investor, policymaker, or operator, this episode offers a clear and practical lens into how catalytic capital works, and why it matters.
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Over the past several weeks, I have had the opportunity to speak with four leaders working at the intersection of capital, climate, and system-level change, each bringing a distinct perspective on what it takes to move from intention to real-world impact. 
Across these conversations, we explored everything from outcomes-based financing and government-backed impact models to regenerative finance and ownership structures, to early-stage climate investing in Southeast Asia. What connects them is a shared recognition that the current system, whether ESG frameworks, traditional venture capital, or public spending models, isn’t quite delivering on its promise.
Here are the guests featured in the episode:
Francisco “Chico” Jardim, General Partner at SP Ventures
We talked about how this model has scaled globally, why it works best in complex social challenges like homelessness and criminal justice, and what still needs to happen to move from pilots to true system-wide adoption. Chico also shared his perspective on impact transparency and why better data and accountability are critical to unlocking larger pools of capital.
Full episode: https://sri360.com/podcast/francisco-jardim/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCFFg26zo6E&pp=0gcJCdgKAYcqIYzv 
Nick Hurd, Chair & Senior Adviser, GSG Impact
Nick brings a deeply critical lens to traditional ESG and even parts of the impact investing ecosystem. His core argument is simple but uncomfortable: doing “less harm” isn’t the same as creating meaningful positive change.
Full episode: https://sri360.com/podcast/nick-hurd/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bagsC5n6sDs 
Laura Ortiz Montemayor, Founding Partner at SVX Mexico & Managing Partner, Regenera Venture Fund
Laura is focused on one of the most underfunded areas in climate investing: adaptation. While most capital continues to flow toward mitigation, she’s working to back founders building solutions for the climate impacts that are already here.
Full episode: https://sri360.com/podcast/laura-ortiz-montemayor/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlLOScRChwk 
Alina Truhina, Founding and Managing Partner at Utopia Capital Management
Throughout these conversations, Alina plays a critical role in connecting the dots, probing where ideas hold up, where they fall short, and how they translate into real-world investment decisions. Alina shares insights about climate adaptation, impact investing, and how venture capital often struggles to understand and engage with regions where climate risk is already part of everyday life.
Full episode: https://sri360.com/podcast/alina-truhina/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olIygxJSpMI&t=2s 
Taken together, these four perspectives offer a window into a field in transition, one that’s moving beyond labels and frameworks toward deeper questions of structure, accountability, and long-term impact.