Painting New York Climate Week Orange
Written by Constance de Wavrin, Founder & CEO of In|Flow and Consultant to the Impact Investment Exchange Pte.
#NYCW brought the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)'s Orange Movement and In|Flow together with a critical imperative: Climate shocks are intensifying, disrupting lives and economies.
We showed up "en force" to shine light on the untapped potential of women and marginalized communities who continue to be overlooked by global finance as frontline solution-drivers to climate transition and adaptation. In this article, We showcase 5 sustainable finance milestones accomplished by the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) in 2025 and turn them into a blueprint for capital market practitioners to pick up and run with.
The Gender–Climate nexus is a missing key to catalysing systemic solutions.
Why it matters now
We are facing an annual USD $4–6 trillion global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) financing gap; a gap which is significantly exacerbated by climate events, geopolitical crises, and insufficient investment where disaster strikes. Climate is the largest driver of all, requiring trillions in transition and adaptation finance. This shortfall jeopardises the achievement of global development targets set for 2030.
A Just Transition requires not only scaling up sustainable investment but also ensuring that its benefits and costs are equitably distributed. Investments can have uneven impacts across income groups, genders, regions, and sectors, and without deliberate planning, they risk exacerbating inequalities. Yet only a fraction of global climate finance reaches women, youth, minorities… most at risk and key to solutions
The Orange Movement
At #NYCW, we gathered forces behind the Orange Movement. Dedicated to embedding gender and the interest of marginalised communities into the DNA of financial markets, our mission is to mobilise US$10 billion to empower 100 million women & girls by 2030.
Our ambition is 3-fold:
To instil guiding principles and build governance around data, capital and policy for inclusive finance
To mobilise both catalytic and long-term capital in collaboration with our stake holding partners across all investor and funder segments
To build the ecosystem that achieves transparent impact through the issuance of innovative gender lens bonds that adhere to the Orange Bond Principles.
The initiative counts 292,000 pledges and leans on a robust Steering Committee that features representation from private and public institutions, Global North and South, diversity of experience and expertise across sectors and geographical locations. We are extremely deliberate about bringing in all parties from a variety of backgrounds to ensure there is diversity and democratisation of the initiative.
The Power of Orange for Ecosystem Building
The Gender-Climate financing gap is structural and so must be the solution. Our ecosystem building strategies are designed to accelerate progress toward US$10bn mobilised by 2030. We tap into the power of Orange to unlock inclusive finance at scale:
Closing the Gap: Bridging demand and supply, with enabling market infrastructure to channel capital where it’s needed most.
Global + Local: Leading a global movement that is locally anchored, demonstrating outcomes and scaling market-ready solutions that contribute to fostering economic potential and significant, direct positive impact on GDP.
Integrated approach: Integrating Capital + Data + Policy to unlock scalable financing pathways, build capacity, and ensure transparency & governance. Our Standards and Tools increase transparency and enable stakeholders to verify impact assumption from issuance through to the last mile.
Cross-Sector Collaboration: Partnering with a wide range of stakeholders will allow the ecosystem to continue to expand through gender-focused finance. Engaging all ecosystem players across public, private sector, civil society and last-mile beneficiaries to reshape financial systems.
The Orange Proof of Concept
We are committed to sourcing Catalytic Capital for Financial Innovation and to resourcing Orange-aligned use of proceeds in tangible innovations which include over US$300 million structured to date and over US$1 billion committed in Japan, Indonesia, the US, and other markets. At NYCW, we showcased 5 sustainable finance milestones accomplished by the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) in 2025 and turned them into a blueprint for capital market practitioners to pick up and run with.
In 2024/5, (i) IIX issued the 7th edition of the Women’s Livelihood Bond Series™ smart blended finance structure for impact, (ii) co-led the first Orange Sukuk bond issuance out of Indonesia and (iii) stewarded Japan's first corporate Orange Framework SPO review. (iv) IIX co-established the Australian impact-linked credit guarantee (OGA), and (v) re-defined the role of CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions) with setting up an Enterprise Community Loan Fund designed to support low income BIPOC entrepreneurs in the US.
Call to Action: Orange Seal™ Certification
It is critical to ensure that our movement is anchored in local economies, the businesses and agents of change that make up the industry and economic landscape. For this reason, IIX designed the Orange Seal™, an Enterprise Certification of Excellence for SMEs committed to gender equality and climate action. The label recognises enterprises’ contribution, signals excellence to investors and facilitates the digital assessment that guarantees consideration of end beneficiary stakeholders through our IIX Values™ last mile impact verification tool.