Raising the bar on gender lens investing

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Subject: Raising the bar on gender lens investing

2X Global: Unlocking gender-smart capital at scale

Dear Friend,

As gender lens investing continues to mature - moving from a niche practice and closer to the mainstream, increasingly conversations in the field are shifting from intention to true accountability.

This month, the 2X Global team, led by our CEO Jessica Espinoza, joined leaders from across the ecosystem at Pro Mujer’s GLI Forum LatAm in Lima, Peru, where discussions reinforced a clear market signal: investors, LPs, regulators, and companies are no longer satisfied with self-declared commitments alone. The market is demanding independent verification, measurable standards, and credible frameworks that distinguish aspiration from implementation.

That shift is exactly why 2X Global continues to strengthen the infrastructure underpinning gender-smart investing. The 2X Criteria have become the globally harmonised framework defining what gender-smart investment looks like, while 2X Certification provides independent verification of how organisations integrate gender across leadership, operations, and portfolios. If we are serious about moving from impact investing to an impact economy, shared standards are essential. Credit markets have ratings agencies. Climate finance has disclosure frameworks. Gender-lens investing now has a common standard that enables consistency, comparability, and system-level change.

Against this backdrop, we are excited to announce that the 2X Certification platform is once again open for Funds and Companies. We look forward to welcoming a new cohort of organisations ready to move beyond intention and demonstrate leadership through verified practice.

We are also continuing to advance the business case for gender-smart climate finance. On June 3 and 4, 2X Global will host our second GLI Deep Dive for 2026, under the theme ‘Climate Finance: The Gender-Smart Angle’. Towards the end of June, we will join partners and industry leaders in London at Climate Action Week for a series of critical conversations and convenings to advance climate solutions that consider and work better for women, markets, and communities alike.

This edition also marks an exciting moment for our team as we welcome Nasri Adams as 2X Global’s new Managing Director of Programmes. Nasri brings deep expertise across impact, partnerships, and global development, and we are thrilled to have her leadership as we continue scaling the reach and ambition of our work.

And finally — save the date! The 2X Global Summit returns from September 15–17 in Montreal, Canada, in partnership with Global Affairs Canada and FinDev Canada. We look forward to convening investors, institutions, and changemakers from around the world to shape the next chapter of gender-smart investing together.

Keep reading for a selection of the latest GLI news and insights.

In Community,

2X Global Team

News from the field

Mainstreaming gender lens investing. The fastest-growing company in the world right now? Founded and run by women. This viral post from Debbie Wosskow points out that Anthropic, the company behind Claude, just crossed $30 billion in annualised revenue - an 80x jump in 16 months. Check out the latest Generation Equality tracking report which evaluates the current landscape of gender-focused capital, highlighting where global financing is successfully mobilised and where a gap remains between bold ambition and actual delivery. This new paper from Amundi and Access Alliance explores the expansion of gender-focused bonds and the ongoing hurdles regarding evidence and accountability in the sector. It offers an actionable roadmap for integrating gender-smart criteria directly within the issuer framework. Brand new piece from ImpactAlpha this week straight from the GLI Forum LatAm, outlining how standards like 2X Certification are spurring a global ‘race to the top’ for investing with a gender lens. New on our Field Notes blog: Sarona draws on nearly two decades of hands on experience investing in emerging markets - with reflections on what it takes at every stage, the opportunities and challenges and how the 2X Criteria can help investors raise the bar. And a happy milestone as Small Foundation and 2X Global announce a new collaboration on the 2X Ignite Africa Warehousing Facility, which aims to deepen evidence around emerging fund managers and advance our collective understanding of how to scale inclusive capital effectively.

Gender and Climate Investing. Developed by Climate-KIC, this new resource provides actionable frameworks for weaving equity into the fabric of climate finance, ensuring that green investments deliver just and inclusive outcomes. This deep dive from Oorja demonstrates how intentional gender integration within an investment strategy simultaneously boosted social impact and drove commercial value across a portfolio for women in agriculture in India.

Leadership, Culture and Policy, JEDI. Take a listen to this podcast episode from the Criterion Institute with Harvard fellow Mara Bolis discussing her work at the Kennedy School, and her reflections on addressing gender inequality in emerging technologies like AI. Maddening yet not surprising - a new study from the London School of Economics shows that early-stage investors more likely to fund male-headed ventures even when start-up proposals are virtually identical. The authors argue that the findings show that Europe's public funding systems, which often prioritise non-financial support for women founders, need standardised assessments and bias audits.

Data and Tools. How are corporate actors across Latin America actually engaging with impact investment strategies? This new report from LatImpacto maps emerging practices in sustainability and social value creation in the region with 10 specific case studies of companies that are redefining what it means to grow with purpose. In the current AI boom, are women being overlooked? Uplevyl thinks so - the new platform is pitched as a data-driven platform specifically focused on curating data on women so that they can be better served by AI. 9,488 environmental grants issued by 169 of the largest environmental foundations in Europe and worth a combined €2.2 billion, were examined for the seventh edition of the Philanthropy Europe Association’s latest report - the most comprehensive mapping of the sector. It sheds light on environmental funding trends among European foundations, including how philanthropic capital is responding to climate and biodiversity challenges.

Care Economy. On Mother’s Day, Olivia Walton of Ingeborg Investments launched an ambitious national bipartisan campaign in the United States - focused on cutting U.S. maternal deaths in half within five years. The Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America offers a state-led playbook for change — turning proven solutions into action across the country.

Resilience (GBVH, Financial Inclusion, Health, Security).

This report in The Guardian, supported by UN data, examines how the escalating global debt crisis is falling most heavily on women in emerging economies, further entrenching systemic financial and social disparities. Meanwhile, in a new Medium piece, our CEO Jessica Ezpinoza examines another side of the issue, unpacking how trade policy decisions and the current environment of tariff wars, is impacting women most severely - and in ways that often remain invisible in mainstream economic debates. New from MasterCard Strive and Care - a practical playbook to help practitioners design financial products and services for women entrepreneurs.

Community Calendar

3-4 June

The second edition of our GLI Deep Dives for 2026 focuses on climate finance and on integrating gender considerations. 2X Global’s GLI Deep Dives are members-only virtual conferences designed to equip our community with the tools, insights, and connections needed to drive impact. To participate, contact our membership team at membership@2xglobal.org.

3-4 June

The World Federation of Exchanges together with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, hosts their Sustainability Conference, zooming in on the role of exchanges in financing the green transition. Learn more.

3-5 June

Luxembourg's Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity hosts the Luxembourg International Climate Finance Days, an inaugural high-level convening on scaling climate finance. Explore the agenda and register here.

9 June

The GGSF Gender-Smart Action Lab will bring together investors and impact practitioners in Luxembourg for a hands-on, collaborative experience designed to turn conversations into concrete steps forward. Click to learn more and register.

9 June

Kore Global, and Realize Capital Partners, will be hosting a webinar on ‘Integrating Community Voice into Investment Decision-Making’. Learn more and register here.

22 June

Join 2X Global and our member, the Private Infrastructure Development Group for a networking session on gender lens investing, during London Climate Action Week. Spaces are limited so please pre-register here.

23 June

2X Global and British International Investment (BII) will be hosting a high-level session during London Climate Action Week, focused on how the Belém Gender Action Plan reshapes expectations for climate finance and implementation. Register here to be a part of this event.

Thank you to our partners and supporters

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Subject: Raising the bar on gender lens investing