At yesterday’s Reset Connect London event, Sarah Teacher of the Impact Investing Institute spoke confidently and with conviction about the power of impact investing on a panel with other leading thinkers.

Impact investing is one of the fastest growing areas of the market. Even though it may be small, it has the power to transform how we invest, and the ways we do business in the UK and around the world.

Many may fear using the term ‘impact’, with all the regulatory and political loading that comes with it. However, what is emerging is a real focus on what it means to have a positive impact on people and planet. That is good for transparency. It is good for investors, business and, ultimately, all of us.

My session at Reset Connect, with Caroline Hopper of Quietroom, Charlene Cranny of Climate Governance Initiative and Nick Stoop of Pangea Impact Investments, was on ‘The £5 trillion question: where’s your pension going?’.

I have always believed impact investing will prove the case for all investors and businesses to integrate impact alongside risk and return. Not only that - integrating people and planet into the way we think and operate can transform issues like housing, energy, food, water, and pensions and savings. This will create efficiencies as it becomes the norm rather than the exception; that is what systems change is all about.

I can see and feel the transformation coming, so now is the time to be brave on impact and systems change.

You can take one or all of these actions as a starter:

•  Look at where your pension is invested by contacting your trustees/pension provider, and ask how they are integrating people and planet into their investments.
• Trustees and pension fund managers can use the Impact Investing Principles for Pensions developed by the Impact Investing Institute, Pensions for Purpose and The Global Impact Investing Network as a guide to integrate impact in their investments.
• Support the integration of sustainability, systemic risks and pension adequacy in the Pension Schemes Bill by writing to the Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell.
• Support the Better Business Act by writing to your local MP to get them to support the private members bill backed by Martin Wrigley, that is going for its second reading in the House of Commons on 4th of July.

It is only by working together that we can make the biggest impact.

Many thanks to Reset Connect for inviting me to speak at their event, and to the wonderful speakers and panellists.