Tuesday, November 14th - 2023

Author: Sam Rubinstein

Your weekly guide to Sustainable Investment

Upcoming featured TBLI Talk:

Click here for more info & to register

Audrey Selian serves as Director of Artha Impact (Rianta Capital Zurich), a dedicated advisory to the Singh Family Trust and is co-founder of Artha Networks Inc. (ANI), a SaaS platform that has been licensed to various ecosystem-building organizations working to support investment discovery and collaboration across various sectors and geographies.  Audrey’s focus within the Artha portfolio has been on the deployment of private capital to high impact businesses serving the underserved in India in the agri, health and education sectors, among others. 

Audrey has served as an advisor to Halloran, is co-founder of ImpactforBreakfast.com, a network of over 3,500+ people across 33+ cities, and is also co-founder of Impact Hub Yerevan in Armenia and of Baraka Impact (an emerging market focused health-focused investment platform).  Audrey holds degrees from the Fletcher School at Tufts University (PhD, MALD), the L.S.E. (MSc) and Wellesley College (BA). In 2003-4 she was a doctoral fellow at Harvard in 2004-5.  In 2022, she co-edited a book called “The Business of Building a Better World" with Prof. David Cooperrider from Case Western Reserve, published by Berrett Koehler Publishers in 2022.

Three things people will learn:

  • What not to do in the impact finance sector
  • How to find the good people who get s*** done
  • How to avoid the posers and the imposters

Time & Date: November 16th, 15:00 CET.
 

Looking for access to impact investors for fundraising?

TBLI's Capital Connect service might be just what you are looking for. 

Through our Capital Connect service, TBLI researches potential investors and make introductions to the most appropriate investors using our CRM system with curated selections and introductions. Capital Connect offers a direct way to tap into TBLI’s 25-year-old network of impact investors and reach your ideal potential investors through our matchmaking algorithm.

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Global Innovation & Value Summit (GIVS) 2023

Nov 17 - Osaka, Japan
 

'Moving Forward with ESG: Scoring for Value Creation'.

IAFOR, The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University, ESG-IREC at Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) partner to define Value Measurement for ESG and Sustainability Reporting

More info

Registration page (Virtual & in-person)

The circular economy is coming to Europe. Here’s how

Vaguely familiar with the concept of a circular economy but not sure how it could play out? Here are three new policies set to bring the idea closer to home, from laws on sustainable packaging to proposals around textiles being rolled out across Europe

The circular economy. Despite being discussed in sustainability circles and even covered in mainstream media for more than a decade, it’s debatable how much the term has sunk into public consciousness. What has slowly been embedding itself within society, however, are the principles behind it. In place of fast fashion, for instance, people are increasingly using secondhand platforms such as Vinted – the business has reportedly grown 680% over the last 18 months. And instead of reams of bubble wrap and non-recyclable polystyrene, the future of packaging is looking decidedly plastic-free.  

Meanwhile, the foundation for widespread adoption of a circular economy is being laid in the form of legislation. From directives on minimising plastic and the right for customers to repair the products they buy, to proposals around recycling textiles and reducing e-waste, change is incrementally being worked into European law. 

Entrepreneurs have a significant role to play, too. “The startup ecosystem is a very important piece of this puzzle,” says Filipa Moita, marketing manager at Landbell Group, which runs the Green Alley Award. The award recognises European startups for pioneering circular solutions.

“Startups are the brave innovators who come up with a lot of new ideas and develop new ways of doing things,” she continues. “They influence policymakers by demonstrating how a solution can be implemented. And of course, they educate consumers, which is really important. If consumers aren’t behind the circular economy, it won’t happen.” 

Here are three policies set to usher in a circular future, and the startups working in the background to edge us even closer.  

1. Textiles

There are 16 pieces of proposed legislation that work to make fashion more circular – plans that the European Commission wants in place by 2028. In the future, fashion companies will be required to either collect a proportion of their textile waste, or pay a fee to support the waste collection of local authorities. By 2030, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation aims to ensure products are designed for circularity, meaning they are durable, reliable, reusable, repairable and upgradable, with a high level of recycled content. And there are also plans to clamp down on greenwashing, tackle the unintentional release of microplastics, and ban the destruction of unsold textiles. 

In Barcelona, Gema Terol is head of marketing and communications for BCome, a platform that helps fashion brands become more transparent. BCome was a 2023 finalist of the Green Alley Award. “Achieving complete recycling of textile waste is extremely challenging,” Terol says. “But the linear ‘take, make, dispose’ model is no longer sustainable.” 

She is heartened by the proposed legislation but says more attention needs to be paid to overproduction, and for fashion brands to go further themselves. “In the future, we’d like to see a greater emphasis on measures that directly address overproduction. That might involve setting limits on production quantities, for example.”

Elena Ferrero, CEO of Italy-based Atelier Riforma, which was also a 2023 award finalist, has created an artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool that can catalogue textile waste and connect it to a digital marketplace, where it can go on to be reused. Ferrero agrees on the overproduction point, adding that exploitation of virgin resources, planned obsolescence and littering are key issues as well.

“The circular economy can truly be the way out for all these problems,” she says. 

Read full article

China's Emissions to Peak this Year Amid Massive Clean Energy Growth


 
By: hammaad saghir - Sustainable Times

In an unexpected yet groundbreaking development, China, the globe's largest carbon emitter, is on the verge of a significant shift. Projections now indicate that China's carbon emissions might reach their zenith this year, with a potential downward trajectory from 2024. This revelation stems from a comprehensive analysis of governmental data coupled with commercial insights, as per a report by Carbon Brief.

2023 witnessed a spike in China's emissions, attributed to the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions earlier in January. This led to an estimated 4.7% increase in emissions in the third quarter compared to the previous year. Yet, this surge in energy demand has been paralleled by an aggressive push towards clean energy, surpassing even Beijing's ambitious goals.

China achieved its annual targets for solar and wind energy capacity by September. The solar sector, in particular, saw a dramatic expansion, adding a staggering 210GW in 2023 alone. This growth doubles the total solar capacity of the U.S. market and quadruples China's own additions from 2020. The nation's total solar power is projected to surpass 600GW by year's end, with solar-panel production capability expected to breach the 1TW mark by 2025.

Wind energy has also seen remarkable progress, with about 70GW added this year, surpassing the entire power generation capacity of the UK. Furthermore, China has augmented its hydropower capacity by 29GW since early 2022, marking a 7% increase.

In the realm of battery technology, China is making significant strides. The nation's battery output is set to reach 800GWh in 2023, sufficient to power 20 million electric vehicles (EVs). This marks a substantial jump from the 550 GWh recorded in 2022. With this surge, EV production exceeded eight million units in the past 12 months, accounting for over 30% of all vehicles manufactured in China.

Lauri Myllyvirta, a lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and the report's author claimed the wave of "record additions" is guaranteed to push China's fossil-fuel electricity generation and CO2 emissions into decline in 2024.

"Moreover, with the power sector being China's second-largest emitter and with other major sectors, such as cement and steel, already seeing CO2 falling, this drop in power-sector emissions could drive a sustained, structural emissions decline for the country as a whole," he added. "This is because - for the first time - the rate of low-carbon energy expansion is now sufficient not only to meet but exceed the average annual increase in China's demand for electricity overall.

Read full article 

How solar installations give new life to blighted brownfields

In Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, what was once an abandoned waste site now has a new lease on life. Designated a Superfund site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Global Sanitary Landfill has been a burden to the Township for decades. Today, however, solar panels line the landscape, offering clean energy to the surrounding community.

AC Power, a mission-driven solar development company, has announced the ribbon cutting for the Global Sanitary Landfill solar project on Tuesday, November 28th at 12 p.m. ET, located at Global Access Road, Parlin, NJ. This initiative is an example of how landfills and other contaminated sites reenergize communities and drive the clean energy transition.

Over the next 30 years, the Global Sanitary Landfill project will quietly generate more than $1.2 million for the Township, power around 400 homes with reduced-cost electricity – 51 percent of which will support low- and moderate-income (LMI) residents.

But this achievement did not happen overnight.

Reenergizing communities with solar — one Brownfield at a time

Brownfields are broadly defined as blighted lands that have suffered environmental contamination, complicating their redevelopment or expansion. While some may condemn these sites to the waste bin of history, many of the 450,000+ brownfields in the U.S. are ripe with repurposing potential. Remediating and redeveloping these properties not only supports environmental and human health, but also stimulates local economies and fosters resilient, connected communities.

“Brightfields”—the colloquial term for brownfields redeveloped into solar projects—are a particularly novel opportunity to reinvest in formerly disturbed areas and relieve the surrounding areas of a significant burden. Research indicates that 190,000 U.S. brownfield sites are eligible for brightfield conversion, offering hundreds of gigawatts of renewable energy potential. Over 10,000 of these sites are inactive landfills – which alone could power nearly eight million homes. Many of these sites, though, sat unused for decades.

In the mid-2010s, Annika Colston saw an opportunity to turn these inactive landfills into clean energy assets, given the declining cost of solar technology and the rise of solar-friendly policies. Where some viewed contaminated sites as low-value land, Colston — with her more than 20+ years of development experience — saw their clean energy and economic potential. In 2016, she founded AC Power for this purpose.

The company’s mission is to reenergize communities with solar, one brownfield at a time. Today, where environmental stewardship and community ties are critical, the dumping grounds of years past can be glowing beacons of future hope. Today, AC Power has an active development pipeline of more than 200 MW.

Read full article 

Manulife’s Forest-Fund Gambit Luring Investors


 
By: Michael Thrasher - Institutional Investor

The largest manager of natural capital closed its first of what it hopes will be many funds that will buy and plant forests, with a carbon credit market twist.

Tom Sarno is a forester by training who has been planting and cutting down trees his entire professional life. For the last 20 years, he’s been doing it for Manulife Investment Management and recently, the opportunity for a new kind of fund arrived.

As the global head of timberland investments, Sarno leads the world’s largest “natural capital” business, with nearly $15 billion in assets spanning six countries and almost 6 million acres. With a total area slightly bigger than the state of Vermont, that’s something like a Brookfield Asset Management of wooded areas. Like the alternatives firm that both owns and operates real estate, Manulife’s timberland group owns and operates forests. Its 450 employees include investment professionals and forestry technicians on the ground who protect and care for the trees.

For decades, the timberland group has helped private and institutional clients invest in the asset class for its diversification, inflation protection, and potential returns. The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries’ Timberland Property Index, which tracks annual income generated and capital appreciation, is up 10 percent in 2023 and has an average annual return of 5.9 percent over the past 10 years and 7.2 percent over the past 20 years.

The traditional appeal of timber remains strong. But more governments, companies and organizations voluntarily — or under existing or future mandates — are trying to meet net emission goals and those efforts have created a burgeoning market for carbon credits. The current addressable market for voluntary carbon offsetting is around $2 billion annually in transaction volume. But it could grow to between $40 billion and $50 billion by 2030.

Manulife has created and sold carbon credits for years but it believeded a new fund could capitalize on the trend.

Late last year, it launched the first Manulife Forest Climate Fund whose objective is to mitigate climate change by buying, planting and sustainably managing timber forests while prioritizing carbon sequestration. It also has what Sarno described as a novel attribute: The carbon credits it creates will be available through direct in-kind transfers for investors’ own climate goals or can be monetized in the carbon markets via offset sales. “That is a very advantageous feature of the fund that we hypothesized would be well received. And that one certainly was,” Sarno said.

The fund and its affiliated offshore vehicles recently had its first close after getting up to $224.5 million in commitments towards the $500 million target.

 


Read full article 

Australia’s sea-dumping legislation: what is it and what does it mean for the marine environment?

By:  - The Guardian

Greens and David Pocock accused the government of doing the bidding of fossil fuel companies to allow new and expanded polluting projects

The Senate spent the past week debating legislation that would allow the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to issue permits for carbon dioxide to be pumped into international waters.

The government bill passed with support from Coalition senators on Monday night after a fiery debate. The Greens senators and the independent senator David Pocock accused the government of doing the bidding of fossil fuel companies to allow new and expanded polluting projects. They said the government basically acknowledged this in the debate.

What are the sea-dumping laws?

The bill amends Australia’s sea-dumping laws – known as the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981 – to bring them into line with two amendments made in 2009 and 2013 to the London Protocol, a global treaty on marine pollution.

Australia is a signatory to that treaty and the amendments would allow governments to regulate two activities: the export of CO2 from one country to another for sequestration under the seabed and the placement of waste or other matter into the ocean for “marine geoengineering” for scientific research, such as adding nutrients to the ocean to try to increase CO2 absorption from the atmosphere.

Other countries that have ratified the amendments, such as Japan and South Korea, could also export CO2 to Australia for the purpose of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

What does the government say?

Ratification of these amendments would allow the government to issue permits for these types of projects after what it has promised would be a rigorous assessment process.

Plibersek has argued it was already legal to import CO2 to be buried in CCS projects and without amendments to Australia’s laws there was a risk it could occur in an unregulated fashion. She said the legislation would increase protection of oceans and “ensure best practice is adopted”.

The export of CO2 is not legal unless a country has ratified the 2009 London protocol amendment.

The Labor senator Karen Grogan said during the debate that reaching net zero by 2050 was the government’s “unequivocal priority” and CCS could help reduce emissions from existing developments, cut pollution from “hard to abate industries” and support “low carbon hydrogen production” using gas.

The Coalition told the Senate it would support the bill as a “sensible and correct path” that had been adopted after a “painstaking” approach by successive governments to the proposed changes, including consideration through parliamentary inquiries.

Read full article 

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