Exeter College alumnus Sir Ronald Cohen speaks on the future of the impact economy at Saïd Business School

Exeter College alumnus and Honorary Fellow, Sir Ronald Cohen (PPE, 1964) returned to Oxford to speak at a Distinguished Speaker event at Saïd Business School, where he reflected on the rapid evolution of impact investing and the growing role of measurement in reshaping global economic systems. 

Addressing students, academics and practitioners, Sir Ronald traced the development of the field from early social-finance initiatives and the work of the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce to today’s focus on impact accounting. He argued that for too long investors have operated with only two lenses — risk and return — and that credible measurement of social and environmental impact is now essential to aligning economic incentives with societal goals. 

Drawing on parallels with the introduction of risk measurement in 20th-century finance, Sir Ronald explained how recent advances in AI and machine learning have made it possible to assign monetary values to environmental damage and social outcomes. Publishing this information alongside financial accounts, he suggested, has the potential to change investor behaviour, corporate decision-making and long-term value creation in much the same way. 

Sir Ronald also highlighted practical applications of impact investment, including outcomes-based financing for education in lower-income countries, sustainability-linked bonds and the use of private capital to support social priorities where public funding is constrained. In discussion, he emphasised the importance of prevention-focused approaches and the need for shared standards to ensure impact data is credible and comparable. 

Many of the themes explored in the lecture are developed further in Sir Ronald’s book Impact: Reshaping Capitalism to Drive Real Change, available from Blackwell’s and other booksellers. 

The full lecture and Q&A is available to watch here. 

Credit Fisher Studios