Net Zero Investor 5/22 - 5/2

We’re Hiring Head of Climate Funds Research and Evaluation

• Build and maintain the definitive digital resource on funds, vehicles, large projects, prizes and incubators that are investing (or driving investment) in climate solutions aligned to science-based roadmaps to net zero.
• With a greater than $2T annual capital gap, and financial institutions with over $70T AUM making commitments to climate, this is the moment to assure capital flows with strategic focus and speed to the climate solutions that will drive net zero outcomes. C4C’s Head of Climate Funds position is an exceptional opportunity to help guide and mobilize billions toward actionable and impactful climate solutions.

Highlight of the Week

Court orders Royal Dutch Shell to cut carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 [The Guardian]

• In a landmark case, the Dutch supreme court has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2030 compared with 2019 levels, in a case brought by Friends of the Earth and over 17,000 co-plaintiffs.

Individual Deals and Market Watch

Oatly celebrates successful IPO, now has enterprise value of almost $13 billion [Vegconomist]

• Swedish milk alternative Oatly celebrated its wildly successful stock market debut on the NASDAQ May 20th raising almost 2.12bn US dollars on a target of $1.65bn. Sales of $420M in 2020.
• NZ based Fronterra, the second largest diary in the world has a market cap of $5.4bn

GreenStruxure gets $500M to grow ‘distributed energy-as-a-service’ to gigawatt scale [Canary Media]

• On May 25th, GreenStruxure — a JV of global giant Schneider Electric and 2 year old sustainable energy private equity investor Huck Capital — landed its first publicly disclosed investor for this proposition, with a $500 million commitment from ClearGen, a subsidiary of PE giant Blackstone.
• That’s enough capital for GreenStruxure to build about 250 to 300 megawatts’ worth of projects, or about two to three years of its current pipeline, Lorenzo estimated.

KLP pumps €200m into green infra through partnership with Macquarie [Responsible Investor]

Indigo Tech raises capital $110mn, adds leadership, and announces partnership to deliver ultra-efficient EVs [Cision]

• Indigo Technologies, a lightweight electric vehicle OEM, founded by MIT professor Ian Hunter, and inventor of the world's first robotic wheel with integrated electric suspension and propulsion, announces the company has closed additional funding, now exceeding $110 million in total capital raised.

New hedge funds bask in Exxon's climate spotlight [Reuters]

• Engine No. 1 set the spark in January by formally nominating four directors to Exxon's board, accusing it of not moving fast enough to diversify away from fossil fuels. Inclusive Capital Partners sided with Exxon after its founder Jeffrey Ubben joined the energy giant's board in March, and argued it was already working with the company to improve its technology in areas such as carbon capture.

Wall Street taps political A-listers for $30 trillion green boom [Bloomberg Green]

• Mark Carney to Brookfield Asset Management. Brexit architect Nigel Farage to DGB Group. A senior Obama aide to BlackRock Inc.
• One after another, the high-profile hires came in recent months, and in each case, they were handed the mandate to help their new employers safeguard and grow their burgeoning green-finance businesses.

Macro Commitments

Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance: New members add $900bn of investments to UN-backed drive [Business Green]

Ford’s Farley stokes stock with his $30 billion bid in EV race [Bloomberg]

• Ford CEO Jim Farley made a bold bid for electric supremacy May 26th, committing to invest $30 billion to electrify the entire Ford lineup.
• Setting the target of four out of ten Ford vehicles being battery powered by 2030.
• Stock has doubled since October.

Oman plans to build world’s largest green hydrogen plant ($30bn) [The Guardian]

• Not to be outdone by Australia’s giant 15gw green hydrogen hub project, Oman is scheduled to start in 2028 in Al Wusta governorate on the Arabian Sea. with the aim to be at full capacity by 2038, powered by 25 gigawatts of wind and solar energy.

UK Based SSE to spend £2bn on low-carbon energy projects in ‘pivotal year’ [The Guardian]

• The company said it had already begun investing in the onshore construction of Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore windfarm (projected to supply 3.6GW), which is off England’s north-east coast, Seagreen, Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm (1GW), in the Firth of Forth, and Viking (370MW), a high-yielding windfarm in Shetland.

EDP to invest €470m in green energy at its closing coal plants in Spain [Renewables Now]

• Portuguese utility EDP - Energias de Portugal SA (ELI:EDP) said Friday, May 21st, that it plans to invest up to EUR 470 million (USD 573.3m) in green projects in Spain's Asturias region as it prepares to close its coal-fired plants there.

U.K. power grids get $425 million for upgrades to meet net zero [Bloomberg Green]

• Some of the budget is for new infrastructure to support 1,800 new ultra-rapid charging points for EVs at highway service areas and 1,750 charge points in towns and cities.  

New climate research house to focus on net zero transition [Today UK News]

• The team behind Carbon Tracker and Planet Tracker have launched a research group to tackle the market gap for in-depth research and analysis on industrial sectors that are critical to economies and low-carbon solutions.
• Industry Tracker will provide evidence based data investors need to engage with companies in climate-critical sectors on their transition plans to facilitate the redirection of capital and provide the emissions cuts needed to decarbonize the global economy.
• Mark Campanale, founder and executive chair of Carbon Tracker, commented: “With this launch, I am confident that between the three sister organisations, we now cover all of the major investment sectors of interest to the financial community, and can accurately track the environmental footprint of companies across the entire value chain.
• By focusing on industrial emissions Industry Tracker will join other players in the field such as Systemiq, Mission Possible, and RMI.

Irish firm plans USD-120m green hydrogen project [Renewables Now]

• EI-H2, a local green energy firm, on May 25th announced it plans to build a 50-MW electrolysis plant in Ireland for green hydrogen production.

Biden paves way for floating wind farms off California coast [Bloomberg Green]

• White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy said the breakthrough “will set the stage for the long-term development of clean energy and the growth of a brand new made-in-America industry” that takes advantage of a “world-class offshore wind resource” near California.

Pathways, Frameworks, Case Studies, Research

‘Nature’ investments must triple by 2030, report urges [AlJazeera]

• The State of Finance for Nature Report warns that public and private investment must triple to $350bn by 2030 from the current $133bn – or face a $4.1 trillion gap by 2050.

Asset managers launch biodiversity module that shows portfolio impact on extinction risk [Investment Week]

• The ENCORE biodiversity module was launched 26 May by the Natural Capital Finance Alliance, a collaboration between the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative and Global Canopy.
• It will allow banks and investors to analyse the impact of their financing and investment activities in agriculture and mining on biodiversity loss, in particular species extinction and the loss of ecological integrity.

Global carbon pricing schemes raised $53 bln in 2020 - World Bank [Reuters]

• Countries around the world raised $53 billion last year by charging firms for emitting carbon dioxide (CO2), up almost 18% from 2019 as some imposed new levies and prices in some existing schemes rose, the World Bank said in a report on Tuesday May 25th.

Biden executive order targets climate financial risks [Scientific American]

• The long-awaited directive requires federal agencies to assess the economic dangers that rising temperatures could have on the government—and homeowners, retirees, businesses and the U.S. financial system. It marks a major turning point for U.S. financial policy, which until last year was mostly silent on an issue that had for years been a priority among European nations.

Study targets £1bn investment for Cheshire’s journey to net zero [The Business Desk]

• A partnership between the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the Cheshire Energy Hub, ‘Invest Net Zero Cheshire’ has identified a portfolio of opportunities across renewable generation, hydrogen, carbon capture, energy storage and smart grids which offer long term, sustainable investment opportunities in net zero.

Japan FSA releases guidelines on climate transition finance [Regulation Asia]

• The guidelines will help to promote financing for projects such as renewable energy, as well as for transition efforts to move hard-to-transition industries towards decarbonisation, the regulator said.
• The guidelines were jointly developed by the FSA, METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), and Ministry of the Environment, in line with Japan’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Data availability holding back financial services firms' climate transition plans [Investment Week]

• A survey of 122 banks, insurers, and wealth and asset managements conducted by Willis Towers Watson found that 80% of respondents cited data availability as the biggest obstacle to addressing climate risk, while 75% and 62% cited difficulty in making quantitative assessments and lack of expertise respectively.

Biden doubles FEMA program to $1bn prepare for extreme weather [NYT]

• The new money is less than what some disaster experts had said is needed, especially because the warming planet is making storms, flooding, wildfires and other disasters both more frequent and destructive. The United States experienced 22 disasters that exceeded $1 billion each in damages last year, a record.

Siemens Energy, IRENA partner for sustainable energy [African Review]

• Siemens Energy and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have joined forces to accelerate the global renewable energy transition in support of sustainable development goals and climate action
• The wide-ranging scope of the collaboration extends to a variety of opportunities. One key focus is the development of a business case for green hydrogen fuel as a major contributor for the energy transition and jointly supporting decarbonisation effort as for heat generation and industrial processes are key parts of the agreement. [H2-View]

CBI: UK's green recovery could generate £700bn economic boost by 2030 [Edie]