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
Venture Capital: Mighty Buildings, Which Makes Sustainable 3D-Printed Homes, Scores $22M Raise
Mighty Buildings , which aims for sustainable buildings construction that address the housing shortage, has raised an additional $22 million in its Series B funding round. Taken with the previous raise of $40 million in February this year, Mighty now has $100 million of capital under its belt since its founding in 2017.
Liquid Alternatives/ESG: CI Global Launches Mutual Funds And ETFs Focusing On Climate Change, Liquid Alt Strategies
CI Global Asset Management announced today the launch of two new equity funds – the CI Global Climate Leaders Fund, which focuses on firms leading the global campaign against climate change, and CI Alternative North American Opportunities Fund, which uses alternative strategies to invest in innovative high-growth companies.
Digital Assets/ESG: A South Korean University Pays 10 Ggool To Students To Recycle Their Poo
Professor Cho is the inventor of the BeeVi toilet, which routes human excrement to a laboratory that converts it to biogas and manure. The eco-friendly toilet disburses 10 Ggool, a cryptocurrency created by Cho, to every person who uses the toilet for defecation. The biogas (methane) is a power source for the university building while the manure is used in gardening.
Artificial Intelligence: Autonomous Saildrone Surveyor Completes 28-Day, SFO-HONO Voyage
The Saildrone Surveyor, an unmanned, fully autonomous vehicle designed for deep-ocean mapping, completed its maiden voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu on Thursday, July 8. The 14-ton, 22-meter long Surveyor used wind and solar energy to power its 2,250 NM voyage and array of acoustic instruments.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Sprott’s To Reorganize UPC Into Physical Uranium Fund
Sprott’s has agreed with Uranium Participation Corp (TSE: U), a Toronto-based company focused on investing in physical uranium, to reorganize the latter into an investment-fund listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Subsequent to such reorganization, the fund will pursue a listing on the NYSE Arca exchange.
Liquid Alternatives: BlackRock Launches Liquid Alternatives ESG Fund In Europe
BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) has introduced its Systematic Multi-Strategy ESG Screened fund in Europe. The new fund is categorized as Article 8 under the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). It seeks to provide a total return in the form of capital and income through three uncorrelated and complementary strategies.
Alternative Investments/ESG: AuAg Funds Launches ESG-Screened Gold Mining ETF
The AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF (ESGO) will list on the London Stock Exchange. Sweden-based AuAg Funds, a boutique brand with a focus on precious metals & green-tech elements, and white-label ETF platform HANetf have come together to launch Europe’s first ESG-focused gold mining ETF. The AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF (ESGO) provides…
Alternative Investments/ESG: Horizons Launches Lithium and Hydrogen ETFs for Exposure to Future Clean Energy Technologies
Horizons ETFs launches the Horizons Global Lithium Producers Index ETF (HLIT), and the Horizons Global Hydrogen Index ETF (HYDR) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The new lithium and hydrogen ETFs are each a category-first in Canada.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Engine No 1 Rides Momentum Of Exxon Win With ETF Launch
It’s been nearly a month since that seismic day when Engine No 1 won backing from key institutional investors in Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) and got three of its representatives to sit on the energy giant’s board. Engine demanded that Exxon needed to shift its operations and significantly reduce emissions in order to ensure long-term financial viability. Engine No 1 is making waves again, this time with its announcement of the launch of its first ETF.
Digital Assets: Stronghold Digital Mining Raises $105M To Mine Cryptos Using Waste Coal
Stronghold Digital Mining has raised $ 105 million through two private equity placements for its Scrubgrass Generation Plant power generation facility in Venango County, Pennsylvania. The utility converts waste coal from abandoned mines in the area to generate electricity on the scale of a large-scale hydropower plant. Stronghold uses this energy to mine cryptocurrencies including bitcoin.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Franklin Templeton Canada Launches New Sustainable Funds
The asset manager announced five ETFs and four mutual funds, all with a sustainability skew. Franklin Templeton Canada launches new sustainable funds managed by its boutique investment managers. New funds from Franklin Templeton Canada Type of Fund Investment Manager Investing target Features MUTUAL FUNDS Franklin ClearBridge Sustainable Global Infrastructure Income Fund ClearBridge Investments: Global Equity…
Digital Assets: Miami Mayor Suarez Wooing Crypto Miners With Promise Of Cheap Nuclear Power
While the national average for the cost of electricity is $0.13 per kilowatt hour, it is just $0.10 in Miami. One reason is the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant (pictured above), which helps power Miami. In fact, in Florida, nuclear is the second biggest energy source after natural gas. Besides, nuclear energy is a very clean form of energy unlike other, fossil-based sources such as coal. Dirty energy and related emissions have accounted for a lot of the recent bitcoin-bashing in recent days. All reasons for Mayor Suarez to promote Miami as a hub for crypto mining.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Fidelity Expands ESG Funds Lineup With Mutual Funds, ETFs, And A Bond Fund
Fidelity Investments announced Wednesday the launch of five new actively managed Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) funds. These comprise two mutual funds, two ETFs, and one bond fund.
Alternative Investments/ESG: U.K.-Based Vitality Launches EnVIRO Range Of ESG Funds
Vitality, the U.K.-based health and life insurance and investment business that sells its products through financial advisers and brokers, announced a new range of funds called EnVIRO. EnVIRO is a set of five index-tracking funds spanning different asset classes but with a focus on ESG.
Digital Assets: Tesla To Accept Bitcoin If Crypto Miners Use ~50% Clean Energy (Musk); Bitcoin Jumps
At 7:30 PM ET on Sunday, June 13, bitcoin had rallied nearly 9% to $38,911 after Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) would commence accepting bitcoin for its cars when there was evidence of the use of clean energy in crypto mining.
Venture Capital: UAL Floats United Airlines Ventures For Innovation In Travel And Sustainability
United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) announced its new corporate venture fund, United Airlines Ventures, on Thursday. The fund’s brief is to invest in emerging companies that could reinvent travel and aviation while engaging with startups that advance sustainability. These innovative companies and their technologies would help UAL meet its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 – without relying on traditional carbon offsets.
Alternative Investments/ESG: A New ETF From iClima For Exposure To Distributed Renewable Generation
iClima Earth, a fintech with a mission to decarbonize the planet, will launch an ETF, the world’s first, focusing on companies promoting the decentralisation of energy generation. The term refers to industries that enable the creation and management of clean energy close to the point of use, for example at home.
Venture Capital: Swedish “Green” Battery Maker Northvolt Raises $2.75B
Northvolt AB, the Swedish battery developer and manufacturer said Wednesday that it closed a $ 2.75 billion private placement co-led by new investors AP funds 1-4, via the co-owned company, 4 to 1 Investments, and OMERS, one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans, alongside existing investors Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Volkswagen Group (ETR: VOW3). Northvolt will use the funds to expand its battery capacity and boost its R&D efforts.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New SPDR ETFs For Dividends As Well As ESG
Three new ETFs from State Street Global Advisors offer investors exposure to equities with high dividend yields from across global, US and eurozone as well as a good ESG profile.
The SPDR S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats ESG UCITS ETF (GEDV), SPDR S&P US Dividend Aristocrats ESG UCITS ETF (UEDV) and SPDR S&P Euro Dividend Aristocrats ESG UCITS ETF (ZPD9) have listed on the Deutsche Boerse and Euronext Amsterdam on 8 June.
Liquid Alternatives/ESG: JP Morgan Launches ESG Liquid Alt Fund In Thailand
JP Morgan Asset Management (JPNAM) and Thailand’s Kasikorn Asset Management have jointly created a sustainable liquid alternative fund called K-SUSTAIN-UI. To be distributed by Kasikorn Private Banking, the new product will invest in the JP Morgan Multi-Manager Sustainable Long/Short Fund. It gives investors a liquid alternative product with an ESG focus.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Horizons ETFs Launches Global Green Bond ETF
Horizons ETF Management launched the Horizons S&P Green Bond Index ETF. It is Canada’s first ETF focused exclusively on providing exposure to a portfolio of global green bonds. Green bonds are instruments used to raise capital for environmental projects.
Venture Capital: New VC Funds – FM Capital ($150M); Darryl Finkton Jr ($200M); Base10 Partners ($250M)
FM Capital raised a new $150 million fund focusing on the automotive and transportation sectors. Darry Finkton Jr. closed on a $200 million fund that will back founders from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds. Base10 Partners will route half profits from late-stage investing of a $250 million fund to create student scholarships and support university endowments at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Venture Capital: Black Founders Focused Collab Capital Raises $50M
Justin Dawkins, Jewel Burks Solomon, and Barry Givens founded Collab Capital in 2018 to solve the problem of capital access for Black entrepreneurs. Collab began raising its first fund in 2019 and after 18 months, the firm announced Wednesday that it had closed its Collab Capital Fund I with $50 million in the bag to invest in Black-founded startups.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Putnam Launches New Active ETFs Based On Its Leading Equity Strategies
Putnam Investments has leveraged four of its leading equity strategies to launch its first ETF products. The actively managed ETFs are Putnam Sustainable Leaders ETF (PLDR), Putnam Sustainable Future ETF (PFUT), Putnam Focused Large-Cap Growth ETF (PGRO), and Putnam Focused Large-Cap Value ETF (PVAL). They all trade on the NYSE effective today.