ImpactAlpha Open

Climate adaptation as balance-sheet protection + system-level investing in Japan

Dennis Price ¡ February 10, 2026
Image credit: United Nations

Greetings Agents of Impact! Welcome to ImpactAlpha Open, a free weekly sampling of the top news and views from ImpactAlpha.

🎉 Stay ahead of the curve in 2026 with an individual or team subscription to ImpactAlpha. Learn more. 

☎️ Agents of Impact Call: Shaping the algorithm for good AI. Capital is mobilizing behind the data, infrastructure, ownership models and ethos that reinforce human agency, social resilience and public good. Katy Knight of Siegel Family Endowment, Paul Fehlinger of Project Liberty Institute, Mohamed Nanabhay of Mozilla Ventures, Chris Jurgens of Omidyar Network and other (human) Agents of Impact will sketch an emerging investment thesis and suggest how institutional allocators can invest in “good AI.”  The call kicks off ImpactAlpha’s new “Shaping the Algorithm” beat, in partnership with Siegel Family Endowment. Answer the Call, Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP today.

In this week’s Open:

  • Climate adaptation moves from hedging to preventing
  • Nippon Life’s system-level investing in Japan
  • Women Changing Finance podcast: Masawa’s Sabine Flechet
  • Three standout impact capital managers

Let’s jump in. â€“ Dennis Price

Must-reads on ImpactAlpha

  • Rising risks and returns on resilience are the push and pull for climate adaptation. The cascading effects of climate-related damages are beginning to hit US insurance premiums. “Adaptation is not just policy,” BloombergNEF’s Danya Liu tells ImpactAlpha’s David Bank. “It is balance sheet protection helping us turn more systems of dominoes into sponges.” Read more.
  • With ‘people x planet,’ Nippon Life Insurance steps up to system-level investing. With more than 15 million policyholders and $675 billion in assets, Nippon Life Insurance Company sits at the center of Japan’s economic life. Nippon Life’s Takeshi Kimura spoke with ImpactAlpha’s Erik Stein about their new “P-squared investing” framework, short for people times planet.  Check it out.
  • How federal guarantees are expanding financing for charter school facilities. US charter schools are growing faster than the financing needed to house them. With the help of federal and state guarantees, community and mission-driven lenders are designing new financing mechanisms to draw in commercial, reports ImpactAlpha’s Roodgally Senatus. See how.

Agents of Impact

🧑‍💼 Three standout impact capital managers 

The growth of impact investing has been nurtured by leaders who build infrastructure, support peers and create a community along the way. For their commitment to high-impact, high-return investments, and for their field building, Daniel Pianko of Achieve Partners, Noelle Laing of Builders Vision, and Emma Sissman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management were recognized this week by Impact Capital Managers. “The field has gone from non-existent to 2% of LP-committed capital,” Achieve Partners’ Pianko, a founding board member of ICM, tells ImpactAlpha. â€œWe are growing up fast and figuring out how to define impact, how to invest and achieve top-quartile returns, and how to tell our stories to a broader audience.”  

🏃 On the move

  • Marlene Hormes, former CIO at WaterEquity, joined Abler Nordic as CEO​. 
  • Timothy Rann stepped down after more than 11 years at Mercy Corps Ventures.
  • BlueOrchard Finance added Lucas van Berkestijn, previously with SUSI Partners, as global head of business development.

The Week’s Podcasts

🎧 This Week in Impact

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. This week: How patient capital built India’s booming affordable home lending market; Nippon Life Insurance’s step-up to system-level investing in Japan; and the push and pull behind the growing interest in climate adaptation.

🦸 Agents of Impact

Preserving and improving affordable housing. A trio of asset managers are teaming up to bet on the most overlooked corners of the US housing market. Shift Capital’s Brian Murray and Aedera Companies’ Alison Carey join David on the pod to announce their partnership with Lafayette Square.The partners’ LSA Affordable Fund aims to preserve and improve subsidized affordable housing in mid-sized cities and rural communities.

👩‍🏫 Women Changing Finance

Masawa’s Sabine Flechet. Host Krisztina Tora is joined by Sabine Flechet, co-founder of Masawa, one of the first funds in Europe dedicated to mental health innovations. Masawa is channeling capital into startups that address emotional well-being, mental illness and tech-driven solutions – from gamified ADHD awareness to dementia prevention. 

The Week’s Spotlight

 đŸŒŹď¸ Clean energy developers and investors get some wind in their sails 

It’s Wind-5, Trump-0. A federal judge last week swept away the last of five stop-work orders the Trump administration had slapped on US offshore wind projects in December. The restart of the projects, including Ă˜rsted’s Sunrise Wind project near New York’s Long Island, will allow projects totaling 5.8 gigawatts of power to proceed. 

Get in the Game

💼 Step up

  • InBC Investment Corp. is looking for an investment associate in Vancouver.
  • Africa 50 seeks a project finance investment associate in Casablanca
  • Capshift is hiring an impact investing fellow in Boston. 

🤝 Meet up

🎉 Stay ahead of the curve in 2026 with an ImpactAlpha subscription. Subscribe today. 

Bring your team onto ImpactAlpha. Save with substantial group discounts. Start here.

Lead the conversation. Sponsor a beat, newsletters or calls with ImpactAlpha. Get in touch.