Arguments over the definition of impact miss the point in a rapidly growing market.

Across the UK, Legal & General has invested over £22 billion in affordable housing, homes for the homeless, clean energy, life sciences, creative industries, and technology and infrastructure. Is this the institutional-scale impact model we have been waiting for?

The asset manager has decided to pull investment from firms that don’t make sufficient progress on ESG disclosure while it routinely votes against climate-related shareholder resolutions itself.

Year after year, research highlights the gap between what impact investment consumers want and what they are being offered by advisers, banks and pension funds. The UK’s new Impact Investing Institute hopes to bring everyone to the table to change this.

Crowdfunding platform Kiva is an example to everyone in finance who wants to make systemic impact.

Why it doesn’t make sense that economic theory has kept natural capital as an externality.

Partnership with Ellen MacArthur Foundation aims to raise awareness of circular opportunity in financial sector.

The Seychelles will need to tackle its drug problem head on if it wants to develop a thriving blue economy and pay back debt raised from the first ever blue bond.

Investors should focus on collection and recycling to have the greatest impact in targeting plastic waste.

In June, the Refugee Investment Network launched an impact investing and blended finance collaborative connecting investors with refugee ventures.

Shareholder proposals to support policies around climate change mitigation have had some recent wins that deserve celebrating.

Africa has the largest number of refugees of any continent – in Uganda, many of them are economically active, while others are excluded from accessing basic banking products. Euromoney finds out how integrating refugees into the formal financial system could benefit the country.

A recent report from The Nature Conservancy and Encourage Capital aims to support demand for sustainable aquaculture and conservation finance.

TNC aims for $1.6 billion impact of blue bonds by 2025; Morgan Stanley commits to financing plastic reduction for oceans.

Non-profit organization Virtual Enterprises International held its annual gala at Cipriani in New York City in April.

To bring about fundamental change and to find long-lasting solutions, isn’t always pretty and it is certainly not always a win-win in the financial sense.

Over the last two years, Bank of America has been overhauling its low-to-moderate income business, redesigning branches and products, improving employee retention and working with community partners, but will the bank get the credit its actions deserve?

Founders claim existing meat-production business model at risk from stranded assets as interest in meat-free diet grows.

Momentum for Sibs is growing – which banks will take the lead?

The smackdown on greenwashing is coming – and ‘commitments’ to clean energy and environmental practices will not be enough.

Impact investing would seem an unlikely business for avaricious private equity funds. But many are embracing what they see as a new opportunity. Should we be sceptical or see private equity’s buy-in as proof of the impact investment concept?

Neal Cross brought a range of unusual experiences to his job as chief innovation officer at DBS, one of the world’s most impressive banks for digital ideas. His desire to disrupt and transform doesn’t stop at the bank – it extends to Sumatran orangutans.

Islamic finance has become too focused on getting arcane structures to be technically Shariah compliant, but a new initiative in Malaysia attempts to make Islamic finance socially positive once more – and to measure its success.

The transition to capitalism has brought prosperity to much of emerging Europe but left large sections of society struggling to catch up – now Austria’s Erste Group is going back to its roots to bring prosperity to the region through social banking.

Vancity is the largest credit union in Canada, but by 2007 it was acting like a commercial bank – yet now, after steering every part of the business back to being mission-based, it is delivering record profits, lower risk, new membership and improved employee engagement. Has it shown that the ‘triple bottom line’ of people-planet-profit can be achieved?

Over 20 years after microfinance first arrived in Kyrgyzstan, the largest players are transforming into banks to lower funding costs and increase financial inclusion. Can they convince the country’s farmers to put their cash into banks instead of cows?

Triodos Bank is probably the most sustainable bank in the world. Behind every decision it makes – the loans and investments it underwrites, the people it hires, the suppliers it uses, the way it reports and the way it serves its stakeholders – lies sustainability. It also makes a profit. Is it a model for the broader industry?

Any important new market needs its innovators, cheerleaders and pioneers… As banks try to build more responsible and sustainable businesses, these are the champions of impact banking at 10 of the world’s biggest firms. From green and blue finance to financial inclusion and social banking, they are leading the way and setting an agenda for others to follow.

From the United Nations and the European Commission to customers and shareholders, the world’s banks face increasing pressure not only to consider their broader role in society but also to take actions that have a positive impact on it. There is no doubt that most chief executives take this challenge seriously. Whether they take it far enough remains to seen.

The Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility aims to source projects that transform lives and environments, and to securitize the project loans into bonds that will be sold to investors through the MTN markets. It all starts with a rubber plantation in Sumatra.