Net Zero Investor 7/17 - 7/23

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.

Individual Deals and Market Watch

Aflac and Denham Capital form $2.1 billion sustainable infrastructure partnership [Impact Alpha]

• Boston-based Denham has a 15-year track record investing in global renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. Aflac Global Investments, the $129 billion asset management arm of U.S. insurance company Aflac, will help Denham expand its sustainable infrastructure business.
• The $2 billion commitment from Aflac will provide senior debt for sustainable infrastructure projects; $100 million will go to Denham’s second equity fund for sustainable infrastructure assets. Aflac will also acquire a non-controlling 24.9% equity interest in Denham’s sustainable infrastructure business.

Generate closes $2 billion equity raise from global institutional investors to accelerate and scale sustainable infrastructure and climate solutions [Business Wire]

• Generate, a leading sustainable infrastructure company, on July 19th announced it has raised $2 billion in corporate equity from some of the world’s leading institutional investors to accelerate the deployment of sustainable infrastructure. Existing investors AustralianSuper and QIC led the fundraising round with new investment from Harbert Management Corporation, Aware Super, and CBRE Caledon. The fundraising tapped many of the world’s largest long-term oriented pension funds and institutional investors from Australia, the U.S., and Europe, including additional commitments from existing investors AP2 of Sweden, Railways Pension of the UK and The Wellcome Trust.

Aviva Investors launches $580mn Climate transition real assets fund [Real Assets IPE]

• Aviva Investors has raised an initial £425m (€493m) for a newly launched climate transition real assets fund to target direct real estate, infrastructure and forestry assets investment opportunities in Europe.

Pivot Bio rakes in $430 million to replace synthetic nitrogen in agriculture [Impact Alpha]

• Berkeley, Calif.-based biotech company Pivot Bio wants to make corn, wheat and rice – the world’s three biggest cereal crops – less reliant on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, a major expense for farmers and a major contributor to climate change.

Anchor Hanover, Britain's biggest retirement home company, has raised £350million through its first sustainability bond as part of a wider refinancing to help build 5,700 'green homes' for the elderly [This is Money]

Nature’s Fynd secures $350m in Series C bringing total to $500m for volcanic fungi protein [Vegconomist]

• Nature’s Fynd, producer of highly sustainable fungus protein from a microbe originating in the geothermal springs of Yellowstone National Park, has just announced $350 million in a Series C financing, led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, bringing the company’s total financing to over $500 million.
• The company closed an earlier round in December of last year and in February of this year it pre-released its portfolio products of burger patties and cream cheeses, selling out immediately within the first 24 hours.

ChargePoint acquires for €250 million European e-mobility tech provider has·to·be [Petrol Plaza]

• ChargePoint Holdings, Inc., a leading electric vehicle (EV) charging network operating in North America and Europe, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire has·to·be, an e-mobility provider with a leading European charging software platform, for approximately €250 million.

Veteran investor Ecosystem Integrity Fund raises $250M amid cleantech funding boom [Canary Media]

• Newcomers are flooding into the clean-energy investing arena, but Ecosystem Integrity Fund’s new $250 million raise caps off a decade of studying the space and making bets.
• The Bay Area venture capital firm said it had closed its fourth fund with money from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Asset Retirement Trust and other institutions.

TIR Europe Forestry Fund II closes with USD200m from institutional investors [Property Funds World]

• With fewer timber investment options for European investors in Europe than the US, Timberland Investment Resources Europe LLP (TIR) has closed the TIR Forestry Fund II, having met its target of USD200 million in committed capital.
• The success of the fund is in part linked to timberland as an asset class receiving increased interest from pension schemes and investors. Timberland has the ability to provide stable returns, and a diversified portfolio, along with being an inflationary hedge.

Vevolution reveals companies have requested over $130m on its plant-based and cell-cultured business fundraising platform [Vegconomist]

• Vevolution, a new fintech platform for high net worth investing in plant-based and cell-cultured businesses, has released new data from its fundraising platform. The figures show that it has now helped companies request over $130 million in funding.
• In total, 126 funding rounds have taken place on the platform, meaning that on average companies are requesting about $1 million per round.

Solar fund spreads into wind with £105m cap raise, eyes green bonds [Global Capital]

• Bluefield Solar Income Fund, the London-listed investment trust focused on renewable energy assets, has tapped equity investors for £105.1m to repay debt and finance the acquisition of its first wind turbines.

Macro Commitments

Carlyle Launches Copia Power Platform to Develop 7GWac of Renewable Energy Assets with Over 3GWh of Battery Storage [Carlyle]

• Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) announced the formation of a new portfolio company Copia Power (“Copia”), a wholly-owned platform built on the Birch Infrastructure platform focused on developing utility scale sustainable infrastructure in the United States. Copia’s strategy is to partner with established industry leaders with highly specialized skill sets to develop, own and operate sustainable infrastructure assets. By combining our capabilities with Tenaska, Inc. (“Tenaska”) and Birch Infrastructure (“Birch”), Carlyle anticipates deploying up to $700M in equity capital and arranging over $6B in project finance to advance the development and build out of assets through the Copia platform.

IFAD aims to mobilize $1bn in private investments by 2024 [Agri Investor]

New Forests is aiming to invest $500 million in the U.S. forests over 24 months [Impact Alpha]

Japan's JFE to pour USD 363m in offshore wind foundations plant [Renewables Now]

• Japan’s JFE Engineering, part of JFE Holdings Inc (TYO:5411), said it will invest JPY 40 billion (USD 363m/EUR 308.6m) to establish the country’s first production plant for monopile foundations for offshore wind projects.

Brazil's AXS Energia to invest USD 191m in Minas Gerais' solar sector [Renewables Now]

• AXS Energia, part of the same group as solar company Araxa Solar, expects to invest up to BRL 1 billion (USD 191m/EUR 162m) over the next three years in the construction of several solar plants in Minas Gerais.

Pathways, Frameworks, Case Studies, Research, Climate Science

Austrian sustainable funds see record rise in AUM to €22.4bn [IPE]

• Assets under management (AUM) for Austrian sustainability-driven investment funds rose by 29% to €22.4bn in the first half of this year, up from €17.3bn in 2020, according to figures published last week by the Vienna-based investment companies association VÖIG.

Battery storage cos gather USD 9.6bn of corp funding in H1 2021 [Renewables Now]

• Battery storage companies globally obtained USD 9.6 billion (EUR 8.15bn) in first-half (H1) corporate funding, including venture capital (VC) funding, public market and debt financing, for a 13-fold increase year-on-year.
• The latest report by Mercom Capital Group shows a 720% jump in VC funding to USD 4.4 billion in the first half of 2021.

China's carbon market tops 210 million yuan (~$32mn) in first-day trading [Global Times]

• China's national carbon market, which is thelargest emissions trading system in the world, made its debut last Friday (with a turnover of 210 million yuan for carbon dioxide emissions on the first day.
• More than 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions quotas changed hands on Friday, at an average price of 51.23 yuan per ton, which was also the closing price of the day, up 6.73 percent from the opening price of 48 yuan.

• China carbon price beats expectations on opening day [Carbon Pulse]

China’s $113 billion green bonds caught in jumble of rules [Bloomberg Green]

• Fund managers are increasingly grappling with fragmented policies in China’s $113 billion green bond market that can make it hard to assess just how much of that money is going to projects to help the environment.

China's $5.6 billion high-speed railroad has opened up in Tibet. Its electric bullet trains are racing 250 miles across the country. [Insider]

• The new railroad connects Tibet's capital, Lhasa, to the city of Nyingchi, about 423 kilometres away, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
• The "Fuxing" electric bullet trains are manufactured and operated by the state-owned China State Railway Group. It took around six years to construct, the report said.