Economy
Social Stock Exchange launched to connect investors with social businesses
David Cameron unveiled a Social Stock Exchange at the Social Impact Investment Conference on Thursday, in order to help push social investment in the UK.
The SSE’s aim is to give investors the opportunity to invest in publicly listed firms that generate social and environmental benefits as well as financial ones – and to do so in a fully transparent manner.
At the conference, the prime minister said that social impact investment can be “a great force for social change on the planet”.
One of the founder members of the newly-launched stock exchange is Good Energy, the UK’s only 100% renewable energy supplier, which recently featured in Blue & Green Tomorrow’s Guide to Limitless Clean Energy 2013.
CEO and founder Juliet Davenport said, “This is our way of helping set the standard for impact reporting, and making it easier for investors to make the right choice.
“The creation of the SSE is evidence that consumers increasingly want businesses to demonstrate their social impact and investors are ready to respond.”
Other founder members include Ashley House, Scope, Places for People, and Accsys Technologies, as well as other high-growth businesses in markets such as social housing, cleantech, renewable energy, sustainable transport, health, education and culture.
The platform, which is backed by the likes of the London Stock Exchange, Big Society Capital and the Rockefeller Foundation, will collect information about the social and environmental impact of listed firms, and look to make it easier for investors to invest according to their values.
This, according to the prime minister, will allow the UK social impact investment market – which is already predicted to be worth $9 billion globally this year – to grow.
Further reading:
Third sector urged to up its game to capitalise on new social investment measures
David Cameron’s social impact investment speech: full text
Cameron: ‘social investment can be a great force for social change on the planet’