I build sustainability data solutions that investors, regulators, and executives can stake decisions on.
Leading EngagedX Ltd, I’ve spent over a decade building the data and standards architecture for ESG, impact investing and emissions accounting – from the first benchmark for social impact investing, through interoperability standards, to Neoni, a carbon accounting application recognised by central banks as an exemplary approach to climate‑related statistics and disclosure.
I lead iSumio, the software studio within EngagedX, developing open, interoperable tools for distributed data. With a practical vision for an “internet of impact”, we implemented new web protocols pioneered by Tim Berners‑Lee, aligning with emerging open infrastructure in sustainable finance and product carbon data.
Alongside practice, I lecture at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management on ESG, impact investing and carbon accounting, helping finance professionals and regulators grapple with the data, standards and statistical rigour meaningful climate and impact reporting requires.
Earlier, I served as Head of Research and Knowledge for the UNDP SDG Impact Finance Initiative, contributed to the OECD expert group on social impact investing, and was appointed to the European Commission’s GECES expert group on social entrepreneurship. I’m currently a Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab and adviser to several organisations.
I’ve been invited across Europe, Asia and the USA by governments, civil society, academia and the media to speak on impact investing and sustainability data. Highlights include guest lectures at Oxford and Cambridge, advising HM Treasury on EU social investment regulation, submitting evidence on alternative finance to the UK Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, representing the UK Cabinet Office at EU‑level social investment discussions, and speaking as a plenary panellist at the Global Impact Economy Forum at the invitation of the US Secretary of State.
I hold an MBA focused on entrepreneurship and project management. My dissertation examined data interoperability standards and collaboration principles in the building design and construction industry – an early exploration of questions I now address in finance and climate. I began my career as an architect and project manager leading multidisciplinary design teams for public and private sector construction projects, and was founding Chair of Friends of the Crystal Palace Subway, a community‑led initiative to reopen a historic asset to the public.
Karl H Richter 