Climate Investment Newsletter 1/16 - 1/22

Individual Deals and Market Watch

Investors Bet Big on Electric Truck Maker Rivian [NYT]

• Rivian, which has raised another $2.65 billion, plans to sell a pickup truck and S.U.V. it has worked on for more than a decade.

Volta Announces $125 Million Financing [Cision]

• Volta, the industry leader in commerce-centric electric vehicle (EV) charging networks, today announced an oversubscribed Series D financing of $125 million. Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive placement agent to the Company in connection with the financing.

Novatus, Southwest Generation Merge to Form Onward Energy [Solar Industry]

• Novatus Energy and Southwest Generation, U.S.-based independent power producers, have completed a merger of the two companies to create Onward Energy.  

Climate Adaptive to invest up to $150m to fund US hydroelectric projects [IPE]

• Climate Adaptive Infrastructure (CAI) has teamed up with Rye Development to fund the construction of 22 US hydroelectric projects. CAI is expected to invest up to $150m (€124m) into the Rye Hydro projects which add 250MW of low carbon generation at existing non-powered dams in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Adani to Raise $2.5 Billion From Green Deal With Total [Bloomberg Green]

• Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is raising $2.5 billion from a deal that includes the sale of a minority stake in his renewables business to French energy giant Total SE, a transaction that may help the tycoon cut group debt.

Bill Gates-Led Fund Raises Another $1 Billion to Invest in Clean Tech [Bloomberg Green]

• Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the clean-tech venture capital fund led by Bill Gates, has raised $1 billion for a second round of investments after backing 45 startups with its first billion.

CalSTRS goes green with muni bond debut [Pensions & Investments]

• CalSTRS, the public pension, the second-biggest in the nation, is selling $281 million in tax-exempt municipal green bonds at a time when wealthy Californians are snapping up such debt to drive down their tax bills and when buyers are increasingly seeking investments intended to lessen the impact of climate change.

Mars and DHL announce plans for £350m sustainable logistics initiative [Climate Action]

• Mars has teamed up with delivery giant DHL to invest £350m in two state of the art facilities, in a move the firms estimate could remove one million miles per year from the roads.

Desjardins, Power Sustainable create C$1bn renewable energy platform [IPE]

• Power Sustainable Capital has teamed up with a group of institutional investors, including Desjardins Group as anchor investor, to launched a C$1bn (€646.5m) North American renewable energy investment platform.

PFA’s climate pension product draws €400m in first six months [IPE]

• Danish pensions giant PFA has reported that more than DKK3bn (€403m) of pension savings have flowed into its new PFA Klima Plus product since its launch last May, which it said testified to the “huge interest” among customers in putting their savings to work for the benefit of the climate.

Nuveen Buys Renewable Energy Manager Glennmont [Institutional Investors]

• Nuveen, which has $1.1 trillion in assets under management, announced Tuesday it is acquiring Glennmont Partners, a European renewable energy manager.

No-Name Clean Tech Firms Are Turning Into Billion-Dollar Bets [Bloomberg Green]

• Fuelcell Energy Inc., a clean-energy developer that hasn’t reported an annual profit in 20 years, is hardly a household name. But thanks to the mania for green stocks, the company’s market value has soared 800% in recent months to reach $5.6 billion.

Toniic partners with Barclays-backed Impact Agora [Environmental Finance]

• Investor network Toniic has partnered with Barclays-sponsored ‘impact investing marketplace’ Impact Agora, in a move it said would provide its more than 400 members access to the platform’s listings of impact investment opportunities.
• Toniic’s members include high net worth individuals, family offices, and foundation asset owners.

Blue Horizon Ventures announces final close of its first flagship fund [Climate Action]

• Blue Horizon Ventures, a sustainable food system focused venture capital fund, announced the final close of its first flagship fund Blue Horizon Ventures I, well beyond its initial target size at €183 million.

Macro Commitments

African Development Bank to Invest US$10bn in renewables [The Southern Times]

• African Development Bank (AfDB) president Dr Akinwumi Adesina says the institution will invest US$10 billion in renewable energy across the continent as part of plans to mitigate climate change.
• Dr Adesina was speaking at a virtual Conference of Parties (COP26) roundtable on climate where global leaders discussed the transition to clean energy.

UK fintech offers world’s ‘first’ net zero pension fund [FT]

• Cushon, a UK-based fintech, will from next week offer what it says is the world’s first net zero pension, accelerating a drive by the industry to green investment portfolios and reduce holdings in polluting industries.

Insurer Allianz plans to reduce assets' climate impact by one quarter by 2025 [Clean Energy Wire]

• Germany’s largest insurance company Allianz has set a new interim target for the restructuring of 800 billion euros in investments, aiming to reduce GHG emissions in equities and corporate bonds by a quarter by 2025 compared to 2019. This is a first interim target on the way to the company’s goal of climate-neutrality by 2050.

En+ commits to become carbon neutral by 2050 [S&P Global]

• Russian energy and aluminum giant, En+ Group, said Jan. 18 that it aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 35% by 2030 and achieve net-zero by 2050.
• These are the most ambitious carbon reduction targets yet in the global aluminum industry, said En+, adding that the targets are in line with the Paris Agreement, the European Green Deal, and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Renewable Resources Group and Capricorn Investment Group float a SPAC [Impact Alpha]

• Investment firms Renewable Resources Group and Capricorn Investment Group have launched Sustainable Development Acquisition I Corp. The special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, aims to raise $250 million to acquire companies “delivering solutions to global environmental challenges in alignment with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals,” with a focus on opportunities in agrifood, renewable energy, water, and environmental resource management and infrastructure.

Telecom Italia to issue 8-year green bond for up to 1 billion euros [Gadgets Now]

• Telecom Italia (TIM) is preparing to raise up to 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) with its first green bond, a source with knowledge of the matter said, as Italy's biggest phone group strives to upgrade its networks.

New World sells US$200 million of sustainability-linked bonds to steer its real estate projects towards renewable energy [South China Morning Post]

• The proceeds of the bond will be allocated to New World’s long-term sustainability initiatives, as well as general corporate purposes, the company said

Elon Musk Says He Will Give $100 Million For Carbon Capture Prize [Bloomberg Green]

• Elon Musk said he plans to donate $100 million toward a prize for the best carbon capture technology, weeks after he became the world’s richest person.

Ukraine plans to introduce national carbon market in 2025 [Carbon Pulse]

• Ukraine this week confirmed plans to introduce its own emissions trading scheme in 2025, as the nation continues work to align national legislation with EU regulations.

Frameworks and Case Studies

Net-zero alliance finalises framework for asset owners’ 2025 targets [IPE]

• The United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance ($5.5 trillion AUM) has finalised the framework according to which individual members will be publishing their 2025 portfolio decarbonisation targets to support the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

SPACs and mobility startups: A $100B boom that's just getting started [Pitchbook]

• Until recently, mobility and electric-vehicle startups were the domain of VCs and a few strategic corporate backers. But the 2020 explosion of blank-check dealmaking has remade the landscape by introducing a whole new cast of characters as key investors driving these emerging technologies.

Spending on Global Energy Transition Hits Record $500 Billion [Bloomberg Green]

• The world spent a record $501.3 billion in 2020 on renewable power, electric vehicles and other technologies to cut the global energy system’s dependence on fossil fuels marking a 9% increase over 2019 and came despite disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report from BloombergNEF.

Clean hydrogen scale up is feasible, says Hydrogen Council report [View]

• Low-carbon hydrogen supply at scale is economically and environmentally feasible, says new Hydrogen Council report published 19th Jan.
• Hydrogen Decarbonisation Pathways also demonstrates that there is not one single hydrogen production pathway to achieve low lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but rather the need for a fact-based approach that leverages regional resources and includes a combination of different production pathways.

UN report sheds light on sustainable financing in Arab region [Saudi Gazette]

• A new UN report provides the first in-depth analysis of sustainable finance practices in a part of the world most vulnerable to the effects of climate change: the Arab region.
• Issues such as water scarcity, rising sea levels, drought, land degradation and desertification will have serious repercussions for food, energy and water security in this area.

First guidance enabling insurers to identify and disclose risks from climate change [Prevention Web]

• A group of 22 leading insurers and reinsurers convened by UNEP FI has published the first comprehensive guidance for the insurance industry to identify and disclose the impact of climate change on their businesses. The Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI) is piloting new methodologies insurers can use to implement the TCFD recommendations disclosing both the climate risks and opportunities facing insurers.