ESG and Sustainability
The rise of ESG factors in investment decision making will have a dramatic impact on returns and opportunities in the 21st century. A recent survey by LGT Capital Partners and Mercer showed that 57% of respondents believe that incorporating ESG standards into investment decisions will raise returns. Just 9% argued they reduce returns on investment.
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Revaia, Europe’s largest female-founded venture capital firm, has successfully raised €150 million ($160 million) for its second fund, Revaia Growth II. The funding was secured from sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and institutional investors across Europe, with support from existing partners like Bpifrance and new backers such as mutual insurer Carac and the European Investment Fund.
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More Stories on ESG and Sustainability
Alternative Investments/ESG: Putnam To Launch Five Transparent Active ESG-Focused ETFs
Putnam Investments announced plans to launch, subject to completion of regulatory processes, three active fixed income and two active quantitative equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs), all with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) focus. These proposed ETFs, along with the existing Putnam Sustainable Leaders ETF and Putnam Sustainable Future ETF, will also serve as underlying investment components within the firm’s ESG-focused target-date series, the Putnam Sustainable Retirement Funds.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Newday Impact Launches The Newday Ocean Health ETF (NYSE: AHOY)
San Francisco-based asset manager and fintech, Newday Impact, launched on Tuesday the Newday Ocean Health ETF (NYSE: AHOY) which is dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy marine ecosystems. The fund will invest in companies that are diverting ocean-bound plastic waste, supporting sustainable fisheries, controlling ocean acidification caused by CO2 emissions, and actively using other strategies to combat ocean pollution and other threats to marine health.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Amidst Climate Change, An ETF For Exposure To Disaster Recovery
The Procure Disaster Recovery Strategy ETF is debuting Wednesday under the ticker FEMA. ProcureAM, a subsidiary of Procure Holdings LLC, launches the Procure Disaster Recovery Strategy ETF (FEMA) which invests in companies in the businesses of sustainable recovery and risk reduction efforts related to natural disasters. (InsuranceJournal) Disaster recovery companies The ETF tracks the VettaFi…
Artificial Intelligence: New AI Tracks Coral Health By Listening To The “Song Of The Reef”
Researchers at the University of Exeter have trained an AI algorithm on multiple recordings of the soundscapes from coral reefs, teaching it to distinguish between sounds from healthy and degraded reefs. The AI could later listen to new reef recordings and accurately deliver an assessment of their health. The findings could be invaluable for monitoring reef restoration projects.
Venture Capital: Vertical Farming Company Bowery Opens Latest Farm In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bowery’s new vertical farm stands on a brownfield site that was part of Bethlehem Steel’s operations. It will create 70 new jobs in the area, and is strategically located to be able to provide locally grown and pesticide free produce to millions of people in the Northeast of America. Bowery is the largest vertical farming company in the country.
Alternative Investments/ESG: BetaShares To Launch Solar Energy And Uranium Focused ETFs In Australia
BetaShares ETFs has announced plans to launch two new ETFs that will offer investors Down Under exposure to two of the world’s most important alternative energy sources – namely, solar energy and uranium – that are likely to play a major role in the forthcoming energy transition.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Krane Funds Launches UCITS ETF For ESG-Screened Exposure To EVs
Krane Funds launched Thursday the KraneShares Electric Vehicles & Future Mobility ESG Screened UCITS ETF (KARS). It is a passively managed UCITS that tracks the Bloomberg Electric Vehicles ESG Screened Index.
Artificial Intelligence: Crewless 750-Ton Commercial Cargo Ship Completes A 500-Mile Voyage Successfully
In what is said to be a world-first, the Suzaka commercial cargo ship, owned by Japanese shipping group NYK, sailed autonomously from Tokyo Bay and completed successfully a 40-hour, 790 km voyage with near-zero human intervention. The ship was equipped with Orca AI’s Automatic Ship Target Recognition System, a safety system for autonomous ships.
Digital Assets: Giant Bitcoin Mining Outfit In Texas Gets Four Tesla Megapack Batteries
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has delivered four Megapacks to the mega-scale bitcoin mining facility in Texas being built by Blockstream and Jack Dorsey’s Block (NYSE: SQ). Megapack is a powerful battery that provides energy storage and support, helping to stabilize the grid and prevent outages. Each unit can store over 3 MWh of energy—that’s enough energy to power an average of 3,600 homes for one hour.
Artificial Intelligence: Underwater, Autonomous Glider Tracks CO2 Levels In Alaska’s Resurrection Bay
CO2 concentrations are a valuable quantifier of ocean acidification, the result of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities. Hitherto, CO2 concentrations in our oceans were monitored by ships, buoys and moorings tethered to the ocean floor. In a new method, an autonomous glider fitted with a large CO2 sensor was deployed overnight in the Gulf of Alaska by the Nanuq, a University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel.
Venture Capital/ESG: Adam Neumann Co-Founded Flowcarbon Raises $70M Via VC Funding And Token Sale
Flowcarbon, co-founded by Adam Neumann, known for WeWork, is a climate technology company seeking to formalize the market for carbon offsets on the blockchain. The startup announced Tuesday its $70 million fundraise comprising token sales and a $32 million Series A round led by a16z crypto and including General Catalyst, Samsung Next, Invesco Private Capital, 166 2nd, Sam and Ashley Levinson, Kevin Turen, RSE Ventures, and Allegory Labs. Notable names that participated in the token sale included Fifth Wall, Box Group, and the Celo Foundation.
Venture Capital: Al Gore-Led Generation Investment Launches $1.7B Sustainability Fund
ESG-focused Generation Investment, which has $36 billion of assets under management, on Wednesday launched a $1.7 billion fund titled Sustainable Solutions Fund IV. This fund, the largest so far from Generation, plans to “invest $50 million to $150 million as active minority investors in high-growth companies that are shifting industries toward sustainability.”
Artificial Intelligence: Israel Testing AI-Controlled Floating Solar Panels
Israel’s Finance Ministry and the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) said in a joint statement Sunday that they planned to test a floating solar system that would generate electricity by tracking the sun. According to the statement, XFloat, an Israeli company that developed the system, would jointly conduct the pilot trials with the Mekorot national water company.
Alternative Investments/ESG: A New ETF From KraneShares Provides Exposure To Carbon Offsets
Asset management firm Krane Funds Advisors launched the KraneShares Global Carbon Offset Strategy ETF (NYSEARCA: KSET) on the New York Stock Exchange on April 27. The ETF provides investors with exposure to the voluntary carbon market by tracking carbon offset futures contracts traded on the CME, the largest derivative exchange in the world.
Digital Assets: NASA, Epic Games And Buendea Partner To Develop Martian Metaverse Via Game Challenge
NASA, Fortnite creator Epic Games, and virtual reality specialists Buendea have together launched a competition challenge to create a new Virtual Reality (XR) research, development, and testing environment to help prepare for the experiences and situations that will be encountered on Mars. This simulated Martian metaverse will call on developers to use Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 to create new virtual assets and scenarios for the Mars XR Operations Support System (XOSS) environment.
Alternative Investments/ESG: State Street Global Advisors Introduces Paris Aligned Climate ETFs Supported By Early Investor UCLA
State Street Global Advisors have launched the SPDR MSCI USA Climate Paris Aligned ETF (NZUS) and SPDR MSCI ACWI Climate Paris Aligned ETF (NZAC) that are intended to help investors achieve thier climate ambitions. The ETFs are geared toward the growing number of investors interested in addressing climate change in their portfolios, both to mitigate climate risk and to invest in climate solutions.
Venture Capital: Battery Active Materials Producer Group14 Raises $400M In Porsche-Led Round
Group14 Technologies is a global manufacturer and supplier of advanced silicon-carbon technology for lithium-silicon batteries that would “enable the electrification of everything.” It announced today its successful $400 million Series C round of funding led by Porsche AG (ETR: PAH3) with participation from OMERS Capital Markets, Decarbonization Partners, Riverstone Holdings LLC, Vsquared Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and other large institutional investors.
Alternative Investments/ESG: RBC iShares Launches Four Megatrend ETFs
RBC iShares has expanded its ETFs suite with the launch of four new Megatrend ETFs focused on the transformational themes of exponential technologies, clean energy, immunology and healthcare, and cybersecurity.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Helps Identify An Enzyme That Eats Up Climate-Choking Plastics
Engineers and scientists at the University of Texas, Austin, have used machine learning to create FAST-PETase, an enzyme variant that can break down plastic waste in a matter of hours or days at lower temperatures. Plastic waste is a serious environmental problem because it is generated in quantities of billions of tonnes, piles up in deadly landfills, pollutes land and oceans, and takes centuries to degrade.
Venture Capital: Aerones Lands $9M Seed Round For Wind Turbine Inspector Robots
Aerones, the Latvian startup that makes wind turbine inspection a snap with its proprietary robots, has raised $9 million in seed funding to further accelerate the global scaling of its robotic wind turbine maintenance and inspection services.
Alternative Investments/Digital: BlackRock Launches Thematic ETFs On FoodTech And Blockchain
BlackRock has launched the iShares Emergent Food and AgTech Multisector ETF (IVEG) and the iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF (IBLC) as a part of its Megatrends range of products.
“The expansion of our megatrends line-up today reflects the power of the millennial and rise of the self-directed investor, whose buying habits have reshaped mainstream consumer behaviors, and in turn, the companies in which they invest,” said Rachel Aguirre, Head of U.S. iShares Product at BlackRock. “We believe the moment is now to embrace these forward-looking investment themes before the market recognizes their full potential.”
Venture Capital: Solar Energy Provider Sun King Raises $260M
Sun King, the world’s largest off-grid solar energy company that has powered the homes of over 82 million people across Africa and Asia, announced its $260 million Series D raise led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, along with M&G Investments’ Catalyst team and Arch Emerging Markets Partners.
Alternative Investments/ESG: FlexShares Launches EM Equities ETF With ESG Focus
Northern Trust’s FlexShares Exchange Traded Funds has introduced a new sustainable and low carbon ETF investing in emerging market (EM) equities. The new ETF, the FlexShares ESG & Climate Emerging Markets Core Index Fund (FEEM), is an expansion of FlexShares’ bouquet of climate-friendly ETFs launched in September and including U.S. large cap equities, developed markets ex-U.S. equities, and two fixed-income ETFs.
Venture Capital/ESG: XPRIZE And Musk Foundation Hand Out $15M To Carbon Removal Teams
In celebration of Earth Day, XPRIZE and Musk Foundation awarded $1 million each as a milestone prize to 15 teams in the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition in recognition of their efforts to date and support their continued work to scale solutions.