The Brief

The Brief: Taking the pipeline of stranded green loans to the impact investing market

ImpactAlpha · June 9, 2025

Greetings Agents of Impact!

In today’s Brief:

  • Shaping a green lending market for US communities
  • Farming coral to restore coastal reefs
  • Indigenous ownership through acquisition in Canada
  • How Taylor Swift and Ryan Coogler retained ownership rights

Turning the stranded pipeline of green loans into investable dealflow for private capital. It’s not a question of whether to go forward, it’s how. Before its account at Citibank was frozen in an ongoing dispute with the Trump administration, Climate United had closed four loans, totaling $47 million, which are expected to mobilize an additional $1.6 billion in private financing for green upgrades and improvements. Similarly, another nonprofit, Justice Climate Fund, had approved $250 million in funding to 35 qualified lenders with a combined $1.5 billion in projects. That was just the first wave of financing to a broader universe of 300 qualified lenders JCF identified with an estimated $8 billion project pipeline. “Demand for clean energy lending in communities did not stop because of a change in EPA policy direction,” Justice Climate Fund’s Amir Kirwood tells ImpactAlpha. Climate United, Climate Justice Fund and other green lenders are now trying to marshal private financing without capital from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund as an anchor.

  • Backup planning. Climate United, the nonprofit coalition assembled by Calvert Impact to vie for a piece of the GGRF, had committed $542 million to qualified projects including green energy upgrades, EVs and community solar in mainly low-income communities that might otherwise be left behind by the low-carbon transition. Many of the deals for loans should still be viable, though financing will certainly be harder to come by if the EPA is successful in efforts to claw back some $20 billion in GGRF funds or otherwise thwart their deployment (for background see, “Clean energy programs hang in the balance as Republicans take aim”). Needed: the right mix of philanthropic funds, catalytic capital and market-rate financing to salvage projects in communities the GGRF was intended to reach. “The shift to domestically produced clean energy is inevitable, but who benefits from the shift is not,” Climate United’s Beth Bafford writes in a guest post on ImpactAlpha. “To meet the complex needs of broken markets, we need multiple tools in the toolkit – diverse financial products, policy solutions, innovation and expertise – to bring the right tool at the right time.” Read Bafford’s full post. 
  • Just transition. Justice Climate Fund was awarded nearly $1 billion in GGRF funding to provide financial and technical support to help community lenders and minority-owned banks – often the only sources of capital in their communities – scale up their green lending capacity. The group recently analyzed 100 projects in its network’s pipeline and found that about two-thirds, or $1 billion, may be able to move forward without subsidies, says Kirkwood, although credit enhancements and other support would still be beneficial. In addition, he says, “There is an opportunity to meet the additional $7 billion in market demand, which would require continued work to attract impact investors and mission aligned philanthropic investors and partner with state and local governments.”
  • Innovative finance. For a glimpse of how that might take shape, consider the New York City Energy Efficiency Corp., which has mobilized more than $500 million in financing since 2010, halfway to its goal of $1 billion by the end of this year. “Our mission is filling gaps in the market for clean energy finance,” says Curtis Probst of NYCEEC. The nonprofit green bank works on community-scale green projects, such as energy retrofits for multi-family affordable housing or solar and EV charging in buildings, in New York and surrounding areas. “We are still seeing projects where there are very strong paybacks without any incentives,” he says. NYCEEC has tapped the Community Investment Guarantee Pool, a facility backed by 17 philanthropies, to reach riskier markets. “There are lots of innovative ways we can try to do this,” says Probst. “The political winds change, the capital markets change. We always have to be nimble in how we’re trying to finance a just and equitable clean energy transition.”
  • Keep reading, “Turning the stranded pipeline of green loans into investable dealflow for private capital,” by Amy Cortese and David Bank. 
  • Agents of Impact Call No. 71: Ramping up green lending – even without that $20 billion. Join Climate United’s Beth Bafford, Justice Climate Fund’s Amir Kirkwood, NYCEEC’s Curtis Probst and other community climate investors who are shaping a new market for green lending, this Wednesday, June 11 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP today.

Dealflow: Blue Economy

Builders Vision leads $8 million Series A round for land-based coral farming. Coral Vita, based in Freeport in the Bahamas, launched one of the world’s first land-based commercial coral farms in 2019, growing coral up to 50 times faster than in its natural environment (for background see, “New models for financing reef restoration in the Caribbean and beyond”). Now it is among the first coral restoration-focused companies to raise Series A financing. Builders Vision, founded by Walmart heir Lukas Walton, led the company’s $8 million round, which also drew participation from Katapult Ocean, iAlumbra, Aureolis Ventures, Colorado Coral, Rising Tide and others. “Coral Vita and Builders Vision share the understanding that ocean health and economic health go hand in hand,” said Walton. He cited the company’s “cutting-edge genetic technology to enhance coral survivability” and “strong organic growth and sales from a diverse customer base.” 

  • Investment opportunities. At the Blue Economy and Finance Forum held over the weekend in Monaco, stakeholders called attention to investable opportunities in the sector. “There is an urgent need to demonstrate the compelling business and financial case for ocean-positive investments,” declares a report by the World Economic Forum, the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance, Builders Vision and Katapult (see, “OK Doomer: These young entrepreneurs aren’t giving up on the climate or the oceans”). Ocean conservation can support ecotourism and ecosystem services payments, for example. Plastic plastic upcycling and waste management keep oceans clean. And ocean-based wave, solar and tidal power are a new source of renewable energy. The report identifies nearly a dozen funds focused on the sector, including Global Fund for Coral Reefs, Outrigger Impact, 2050 Fund and SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean Fund.
  • Reef restoration. By 2050, global warming could degrade up to 90% of coral reefs, which provide food, shelter and breeding grounds for a quarter of aquatic life. Coral Vita combines selective breeding and microfragmentation – essentially cutting and fusing corals – to speed growth timelines from decades to months. “We are proving that the blue economy and ecological infrastructure is investable, profitable and impactful,” said Coral Vita’s Sam Teicher. The startup claims to have grown over 52 coral species in the Bahamas, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since 2019. The startup is expanding its restoration services for reef-dependent clients, as well as coral farm tours, technology licensing to restoration groups.
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Canadian banks inject C$100 million in Indigenous business ‘ownership through acquisition.’ First Nations Bank of Canada, a chartered national bank that is majority-owned by Indigenous shareholders, has formed a joint venture with the Canadian government’s Business Development Bank to increase business ownership in the country’s Indigenous communities. The banks are targeting the wave of retiring Canadian business owners sitting on roughly $2 trillion in business wealth and who largely lack successors and exit plans (see, “Hands off: Investing in employee ownership can ensure Canadian businesses stay Canadian”). First Nations Bank will issue loans of $5 million on average to Indigenous economic development agencies and other community-based organizations to acquire small and mid-sized businesses. Business Development Bank’s C$100 million (US$73 million) will guarantee the loans and cover up to 85% of default risks. 

  • Economic development. First Nations Bank will underwrite loans to acquire businesses in manufacturing, services and retail, natural resources and energy, and hospitality. “With Indigenous ownership, the companies will be more competitive for many reasons including procurement policies that favor Indigenous-owned businesses,” said First Nation Bank’s Bill Lomax.
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Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

  • Proparco made a €10 million ($11.4 million) equity investment in the Bank of Palestine to help the bank meet its regulatory capital adequacy requirements and support regional expansion and economic recovery. (Proparco)
  • Bpifrance, Kalys Ventures, Flat6Labs and several European and North African family offices and angels invested $3.5 million in a seed round for Tunisia’s Kumulus Water to roll out its industrial-scale generators that extract water from the air. (Wamda)
  • Finland’s Tesi, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company, the Valio Pension Fund and Finish food producer and investor Heino Group participated in the €40 million ($45.6 million) first close of Nordic Foodtech VC’s fund to invest in early-stage deep tech for the food and agriculture sector. (Tech.eu)
  • EQT, through its energy transition infrastructure strategy, will acquire a majority stake in French renewable natural gas producer Waga Energy. (EQT)

Impact Voices: Ownership Economy

Taylor Swift, Ryan Coogler and the emerging ownership economy in music and film. When you think about Taylor Swift and Ryan Coogler, do you think impact? “You should. And the ‘ownership economy’ is a big part of the reason,” argues Mark Newberg of Stockbridge Advisors in a guest post on ImpactAlpha. The music industry has rarely been considered equitable. Prince made this point years ago. John Fogarty of Creedence Clearwater Revival famously lost the rights to his own songs for decades. Recent deals struck by the Swift and Coogle show how ownership, value and impact can align, says Newberg.

  • Retaining the rights. Late last month, Swift announced that she had bought back the rights to her master recordings from Shamrock Capital, which had purchased the masters from Ithaca Holdings in 2020. “All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs to me,” Swift posted on her website. The news from Swift followed buzz around the deal Coogler struck with Warner Brothers for his blockbuster film “Sinners”, which entitles him to an immediate share of box office revenues (not only after the studio recoups its costs), and the rights to the movie after 25 years.
  • Ownership studio. Swift and Coogler were both in positions in their careers to drive such deals. What if either “decided to bet on an equitable-to-artists ownership structure at scale?” asks Newberg. One model: a record label or studio built to revert ownership rights to the original artists through a 10-year or 20-year ownership transfer period, after which the right to the content reverts to the artist, while the studio maintains a minority royalty interest. “If either Swift or Coogler decided they wanted to take on the challenge, I’d bet on one, or both, of them pulling it off,” says Newberg. “And that would be betting on the impact, the arts and the ownership economy at the same time.” 
  • Keep reading, “Taylor Swift, Ryan Coogler and the emerging ownership economy in music and film,” by Stockbridge Advisors’ Mark Newberg.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Don’t miss these ImpactAlpha partner events this month:

Sam Walsh, Avi Zevin, Miles Farmer and Kim Smaczniak, former attorneys in the Biden administration’s Department of Energy and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, launched Roselle LLP, a law firm focused on the energy transition… The Hewlett Foundation seeks a program officer for climate finance and multilateral initiatives… Hamilton Community Foundation has an opening for a director of social finance investments. 

AVPN is hiring a senior associate of policy and engagement… The ImPact is looking for a Latin America-focused community manager… Mission Investors Exchange will host the first part of an ownership investing-lens webinar series with Smitha Das of World Education Services and Gary Community Ventures’ Santhosh Ramdoss, Wednesday, June 11… Also this Wednesday, Project Drawdown’s transportation expert Cameron Roberts will host a webinar on low-carbon mobility solutions.

👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.

Thank you for your impact!

– June 9, 2025