Building and musing about the future of blockchain-based regenerative finance in Medellin. Blockchain eco-warriors descended on Medellin, Colombia last week to stake a claim for the role the technology can play in regenerating the planet. The Cosmoverse conference seemed a world away from the “crypto winter” that has deflated some of the utopian hype around the alternative currencies. Pioneers of regenerative finance, or “ReFi,” aim to use blockchain and crypto to direct capital via carbon credits to projects restoring ecosystems on the ground, from urban forest restoration in the U.S., to regeneration of rainforest and wetland ecosystems in the Congo Basin. “Blockchain holds so much wild potential, and beneath the hype of token price speculation are projects using this technology to make the world a better place,” said Gregory Landua of Regen Network, a leader of the ReFi movement. Landua was in Medellin, along with hundreds of developers using the open source Cosmos blockchain, and ImpactAlpha’s Dan Keeler, to present the firm’s new carbon trading platform, which will enable nature-based developers to list projects directly without intermediaries (for context, see “Positive externalities: Carrots as well as sticks for the carbon era”).
Bluestar Energy Capital launches with $100 million for renewable energy development. Bluestar Energy is a new renewable energy investment firm launched by Declan Flanigan, the former head of Danish power company Orsted’s onshore wind business. The Chicago-based firm will provide early-stage development finance and operating capital for wind, solar and energy storage projects in Europe. S2G Ventures and Great Bay Renewables backed the firm. Bluestar plans to launch subsidiaries to invest in projects in North America (Nova Clean Energy) and Australia (Bluestar Energy Australia).
VCs ♥️ ESG. Red-state politicians are fanning the flames of an anti-ESG backlash. Venture capitalists, meanwhile, are embracing environmental, social and governance practices to strengthen their portfolios. More than three-quarters of VCs claim to fully or partly adopt sustainable principles, according to PitchBook’s “Sustainable Investment Survey.” Driving the adoption: an influx of capital to climate tech and new disclosure regulations in Europe and the U.S., says Tracy Barba, the founder of ESG4VC, which helps venture firms fast-track their ESG policies and practices. VCs from HarbourVest, Softbank, Bay Bridge Partners and Sapphire Ventures last month turned out to “ESG Meets Silicon Valley VC,” an event co-hosted by ESG4VC. “Funding technologies without consideration of unintended consequences on society or the environment, backing founders that are accountable to no one, and their poor performance when it comes to diversity needs to change,” said Barba. “The time is now."
Shell Ventures' Phoebe Wang, Solar One's Angelica Ramdhari, and Apple's Lisa Jackson are among nine women selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s for 2022 Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Awards… Farmers Business Network seeks a remote managing director of equity investments… Bluestar Energy Capital seeks a senior director of business development in Dublin and a director of business development in Chicago (see Dealflow, above).
ImpactAlpha, September 30 – Capital to support women’s economic growth and financial inclusion is flowing – finally! – in many advanced economies. In emerging …
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 19 – Investors, entrepreneurs, corporate executives and world leaders have descended on New York for Climate Week, the annual gathering alongside the …
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ImpactAlpha, June 3 – Just as investment in financial inclusion in Africa was really ramping up, a market downturn threatens to slow progress. Or …
ImpactAlpha, May 13 – One defining outcome of the pandemic: a boom in entrepreneurship. A record five million businesses were started in the …
ImpactAlpha, April 22 – The Ukraine crisis risks tipping up to 1.7 billion people — over one-fifth of humanity — into poverty, destitution …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 1 – High-impact investments in fragile countries invariably entail political risk. And impact investments in a free press, humanitarian tech, financial inclusion …
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 11 – It’s one thing for a corporation to set environmental or social goals. It’s another to shift executives, employees and supply …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Bottom-up policies for access to capital in divested communities. Top-down strategies to reshape capitalism to work for all stakeholders. “We …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 11 – ”$100 a ton?” exclaimed CDP’s Paula DiPerna on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact Call this week. “I should be popping champagne.” …
‘Tis the season for our lookaheads to 2022 and, thanks to ImpactAlpha subscribers, we are able to make the roundups freely available. So …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 3 – The New Capitalism Project has over the past two years dissected the failings of the current system and crafted a …
On this week’s podcast, Dennis Price joins host Brian Walsh to talk about new opportunities in “refugee lens investing,” and Brian shares takeaways …
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 27 – On this week’s podcast, Monique Aiken has the headlines and ImpactAlpha’s Dennis Price chats with Havell Rodrigues of New Majority …
Host Brian Walsh welcomes back roundtable regulars Imogen Rose-Smith and David Bank to dissect the anti-ESG backlash and the Inflation Reduction Act. Plus, …
ImpactAlpha’s Zuleyma Bebell and Realize Impact’s Luni Libes join host Brian Walsh to discuss the motivation behind The LIIST, our new monthly sampling …
Zuleyma Bebell and Dennis Price join host Monique Aiken to talk about this week’s launch of ImpactAlpha Open, trends in the media business …
“There’s an inherent power dynamic in investing. Full stop.” That’s Margot Kane, the chief investment officer of Spring Point Partners, in an Agents …
Jessica Pothering joins host Brian Walsh to dissect the crash landing of Airlift, and chew over the broader Covid-fueled boom and bust in …
Roundtable regulars Imogen Rose-Smith and David Bank join host Brian Walsh to discuss Rose-Smith’s latest column on politics and power in asset management …
At a breakfast meeting in Singapore a few years ago, Patience Marime-Ball and Ruth Shaber were speaking to asset owners and entrepreneurs about …
Jessica Pothering joins Monique Aiken to share the work of equity and debt capital providers in emerging markets, whom she met with last …
David Bank joins host Brian Walsh to discuss parallels between the LGBTQ+ community and the impact investing community. We also hear from Megan …
ImpactAlpha, June 6 – Pro tip for entrepreneurs or fund managers getting ready to pitch Oakland-based Kapor Capital: Don’t leave diversity out of …
As a concept, ESG is nothing new. The idea of explicitly looking at environmental, social and governance issues as a holy trinity of …
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 4 – SOCAP is back in person this year and the conversation around ESG will be lively and urgent. I’m thrilled …
The spotlight may have been on Climate Week NYC last week, but 370 miles away, Pittsburgh was the site of additional high-level climate …
ESG begins at home. As increasing numbers of investors are looking for environmental, social and governance investment opportunities, asset managers are directing more …
Nowhere is impact investing needed more urgently than in emerging markets (EMs). Private investment is needed to lift billions out of poverty, create …
ImpactAlpha, September 19 – Clean-tech research firm Clean Edge has been tracking the investment, policy, and technology trends of the modern energy transition for …
The culture wars have come for sustainable investing. Right-wing politicians at both federal and state levels have started latching onto the well-known term …
In 1952, the 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth of York stepped down from her treetop camp in Kenya’s Aberdare National Park and became Queen Elizabeth II. On …
The (shocking but unsurprising) sad news is that 173,000 residents of Jackson, Miss. will be out of water indefinitely. This water issue is …
Something’s rotten in the State of Texas. Once self-styled as a bastion of free markets and friendly regulation, a down-ballot politician now wields …
We have entered a strange and challenging funding environment brought about by inflation and economic uncertainty – the two, of course, are inevitably …
As our children head back to school this Fall, there are still hundreds of millions of students in low- and middle-income countries suffering …
ImpactAlpha, September 23 – Women are hot… investments. So declared ImpactAlpha back in 2014, when we used quote marks for investors unfamiliar with “gender …
Within the next few weeks, if everything goes according to plan, the first customers will make deposits in New Hampshire-based Walden Mutual Bank, …
ImpactAlpha, August 5 – In the roller coaster climate bill negotiations with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, Brandon Dennison brought something to the table …
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 29 – Patagonia vests and khakis ain’t gonna cut it, says Taj Eldridge. To spread the word on climate action, the PhD …
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 8 – Amy Bell’s early work as a financier and advisor to impact funds and social enterprises helped establish the nascent field …
If the rise of a Black former maid to vice president was once unthinkable in Colombia, so too was the idea that the …
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 10 – Payday loans. Car loans. Student loans. “One way to describe our economy is that it’s about draining every ounce of …
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 7 – Where you stand on the incipient tech slowdown may depend on where you sit. Investors and executives in climate …
ImpactAlpha, May 27 – Five years ago, Olu Oyinsan felt an urgent pull back to his native Nigeria while working in the early-stage practice …
ImpactAlpha, May 6 – Kevin Jones played an early role in convening the disparate, and sometimes unruly, tribes of impact investing under the tents …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 29 – The climate disruption is spurring a long overdue upgrade for 500 million smallholder farmers, who produce up to 80% of …
If it feels like one calamity after another, put yourself in Maya Winkelstein’s shoes. Open Road Alliance, which Winkelstein has led for a …
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