Climate Investment Newsletter 6/13 - 6/19

Individual Deals and Market Watch

Chinese battery giant CATL prices $6.7 billion share sale [Mining Dot Com]

• Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., the largest maker of batteries for electric cars, raised 45 billion yuan ($6.7 billion) after pricing one of the world’s biggest stock offerings this year.

KLA closes $1.5 billion sustainability-linked credit facility [Smart Energy Decisions]

• The company’s progress will be measured on achieving its goals of increased usage of renewable electricity within the company's operations and reduction in Scope 1 and  Scope 2 CO2 emissions.

EGX: Egypt issued green bonds worth $750 million [See egy]

• Mohamed Farid, Chairman of the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX)  said that Egypt has issued green bonds worth $750 million, which are linked to projects that take into account many environmental dimensions.

EcoVadis secures $500m investment to usher in new era of sustainability-led business decisions [Business Wire]

• EcoVadis, the leading provider of globally trusted business sustainability ratings, has raised $500M with plans to accelerate its vision of influencing every business decision with sustainability intelligence, becoming a sustainability impact unicorn.

NiSource raises USD 350m from bond issue to fund wind purchases [Renewables Now]

• Indiana-based fully-regulated utility NiSource Inc (NYSE:NI) has closed a USD-350-million (EUR 334m) green bond issuance with plans to invest the raised sum to finance the acquisition of eligible renewable energy projects in its home state.

Little Leaf Farms raises $300 million in capital with financing from TPG's The Rise Fund and Bank of America [Cision]

• Little Leaf Farms, the country's #1 brand of packaged lettuce sustainably grown through controlled environment agriculture (CEA), has raised $300 million in new capital, with equity financing led by The Rise Fund, TPG's multi-sector global impact investing strategy, and debt funding from Bank of America. The capital will support aggressive growth and expansion of farms and distribution, making Little Leaf Farms' local lettuces accessible to more than half of the country's population by 2026.

Romanian lender BCR and Raiffeisen Bank raise EUR 248 mln with green bond issues [Romania-Insider]

• BCR and Raiffeisen Bank, two of the biggest banks in Romania, controlled by the Austrian groups Erste and Raiffeisen, have raised RON 1.28 billion (EUR 248 mln) with two green bond issues carried out in June.

Anterra Capital closes second fund oversubscribed at more than $260m [Global Ag Investing]

• With a mission to invest and partner with innovators affecting real transformation on the world’s food ecosystem through biotech and digital technologies across food, agriculture, and animal health, Anterra is an international food and agriculture specialist venture capital firm that brings together the traditional notion of venture investment with an active approach to venture creation.

New $145 million Overair infusion fuels drive to test eVTOL prototype in 2023 [DroneDJ]

• Overair, developer of an electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with significantly reduced noise output, has received $145 million in additional funding to support its push to test fly a prototype of its Butterfly plane next year.

Latvenergo’s €100 million green bonds offering [Global Legal Chronicle]

Next Gen Foods raises record-breaking $100m Series A to expand tindle plant-based meat analogs [Global Ag Investing]

• The startup is one of a select group of international investments made by Bits x Bites, China’s first agrifood tech-focused VC fund, and was the first partner of the $30 million FTIC – a Food Tech Innovation Center launched by Temasek in partnership with Agency for Science, Technology, and Research’s (A*STAR’s) Singapore Institute of Food & Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI).

Recover accelerates growth with $100 million minority equity investment [Business Wire]

• Recover™, a leading materials science company and producer of sustainable, premium recycled cotton fiber and cotton fiber blends, announced that it has closed a new $100 million minority equity capital investment led by the Sustainable Investing business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs). Goldman Sachs is investing alongside majority shareholder STORY3 Capital Partners.

Macro Commitments

UAE President's announcement of $50bln investment is new milestone in climate action efforts: minister [Zawya]

• Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, stated that the announcement made by President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of plans to invest an additional US$50 billion to scale up climate action through the deployment of clean energy solutions at home and abroad is yet another milestone in the UAE’s long track record spanning close to three decades.

Italy investing €3B to convert a quarter of farm land to organic by 2027 [Olive Oil Times]

• A new study on sustainable strategies to stem the spread of pests and diseases in Italy has shown that organic vegetable farms can cut phytosanitary treatments by 40 percent compared to conventional farms.

Chevron to invest $2.5bn in green and blue hydrogen by 2028, reveals senior executive [ReCharge News]

• US oil giant wants to be part of the global clean H2 ramp-up, hydrogen vice-president tells London conference, but the company has done little so far.

Oman develops USD 900m of solar, wind projects [Renewables Now]

• Oman is working on the development of solar and wind projects across the sultanate which will require investments totalling USD 900 million (EUR 850.8m).

Apparel Impact Institute reveals lead funders of $250m fashion climate fund [Vegconomist]

• The Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) has announced the lead funders for its new $250 million Fashion Climate Fund. The funders are Lululemon, H&M Group, H&M Foundation, and The Schmidt Family Foundation.

Qantas, Airbus to invest up to $200 million to develop Australian sustainable aviation fuel industry [Reuters]

• Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) and Airbus (AIR.PA) said they would invest up to $200 million to accelerate the development of a sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) industry in Australia to help meet the airline's goal of lowering carbon emissions.

Power Sustainable announces initial C$210 million closing for agri-food focused Lios Fund I [Cision]

• Power Sustainable, a global multi-platform alternative asset manager investing in sustainable strategies, announced that it has closed an initial $210 million of aggregate capital commitments for Lios Fund I, its inaugural agri-food private equity fund. Initial investors include The Canada Life Assurance Company, Farm Credit Canada (FCC), Export Development Canada (EDC), Fonds de solidarité FTQ, BMO Capital Partners and CIBC. The fund targets total capital commitments of $300 million and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022.

Sky backs £100mn climate investment fund [FT]

• British media group Sky will back a £100mn investment fund set up by Brent Hoberman’s Founders Factory to support start-ups focused on climate-related technology.

Pathways, Frameworks, Case Studies, Research, Climate Science

Sustainable investing to surge to $125 billion in India by 2026: Report [Data Quest]

• Climate change consciousness has led to global investment firms prioritizing sustainable investments, not only for long-term financial returns but to also provide positive social effects. While investments in sustainability account for one-third of assets under management (AuM) in the United States and 36% of AuM globally, the Indian sustainable investment space only makes up 10-15% of AuM, by private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms currently. However, growth in space is quickly gaining momentum.

IIGCC launches net-zero guidance for infrastructure investments [Pensions Age]

• The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has published a new component for the Net Zero Investment Framework (NZIF), providing guidance on aligning and managing infrastructure portfolios with the goal of achieving net zero by 2050.

Latest ‘plan for the planet’ calls for protecting 44% of land, home to 1.8b humans [Mongabay]

• A new study says 44% of Earth’s terrestrial area needs conservation attention to halt the runaway destruction of the natural world.

Climate Change: China’s firms lag behind Asia, North America, Europe in net-zero targets with only 4 per cent adherence, study finds [South China Morning Post]

• Only 11 out of 265 companies have set net zero targets and deadlines, according to a study of more than 4,000 entities tracked by researchers

Coal phase-out could generate $78trn in ‘social benefits’ [Energy Monitor]

• The net gain in switching from coal to renewable energy would be equivalent to around 1.2% of global GDP per year until 2100, according to research from Imperial College London.