Net Zero Investor 9/18 - 9/24

Individual Deals and Market Watch

U.K. launches $13.6 billion green gilt, with retail savings bond to follow [Forbes]

• The U.K.’s first green sovereign bond has been issued, raising £10 billion ($13.6 billion) to fund green projects. Investor demand was reported to be over 9x availability, underscoring how attractive such investments are today.

Serbia raises EUR 1 billion in its first green bond auction [Balkan Green Energy News]

• Serbia achieved the lowest annual coupon rate in its history in the sale of its first green bonds. CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative Sean Kidney praised the move and said if the authorities use the funds properly, for environmental protection measures, they can expect more good deals in debt sales.
• The seven-year securities have a 1% annual coupon or interest rate, which the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) said was the lowest ever, and the yield rate came in at 1.26%. Offers for the eurobond exceeded EUR 3 billion, according to the announcement. Minister of Finance Siniša Mali said the sum was three times higher than the government expected.

Enpal secures EUR 345m financing for new solar PV systems [Renewables Now]

• German solar leasing company Enpal GmbH has secured EUR 345 million (USD 404.9m) in debt from a group of investors to refinance the installation of more than 15,000 solar PV systems.

Eat Just’s GOOD Meat becomes most funded cell-cultured company to date with $267m raised [Vegconomist]

• After announcing its recent partnership with the Qatari government, GOOD Meat, a division of Eat Just, has now raised $267 Million overall – the largest to date in the exploding cultivated meat sector. The cell-cultured meat pioneer has also added former USDA secretary Dan Glickman to its advisory board.
• Based in San Francisco, food tech Eat Just – parent of JUST Egg – has secured a further $97 million in new funding, in addition to the initial $170 million reported by vegconomist in May. The total $267 million of fundraising secured to date makes it the most the cell-cultured meat sector has seen.

Gresham House obtains EUR-210m debt for storage pipeline [Renewables Now]

• Gresham House Energy Storage Fund plc (LON:GRID) said it has secured a GBP-180-million (USD 246m/EUR 210m) debt facility that will fund the remainder of its "subsequent" pipeline.

Blue Bear Capital raises $150M to fund climate, energy and infrastructure tech [Tech Crunch]

• Blue Bear Capital has raised a new $150 million fund that will be used to find and invest in startups developing technology aimed at speeding up the adoption and industrialization of renewable energy.
• This is the venture firm’s second fund, which it says is oversubscribed. Blue Bear has already backed nine new companies since 2020. The firm said the fresh cash will be used to fund digital technologies “making an outsized impact” in markets, including wind, solar, the electric grid, EV infrastructure, transportation and energy-intensive industries.

Australian govt boosts hydrogen hubs funding by USD 110m [Renewables Now]

• The Australian government announced AUD 150 million (USD 110m/EUR 93m) in additional grant funding to help develop “clean” hydrogen hubs in regional Australia. The additional funding will back two more locations under the Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs programme.

EV revolution accelerates with 20% of new cars in Germany electric [Energy Monitor]

• An electric vehicle (EV) revolution is under way in Germany, which is both Europe’s largest car manufacturer and largest car market.
• Car manufacturers in the country produced 53,221 EVs in July 2021, or 21.7% of the total number of cars produced that month. That compares with 6.8% in March 2020 and 3.2% in January 2019.

Lever VC announces final close on Fund I at $80m; plans Fund II for early 2022 [Global Ag Investing]

• Headquartered in Hong Kong, early-stage alternative protein investor Lever VC has connections with some of the top global names in the category, with partners Lawrence Chu and Nick Cooney being early investors in Beyond Meat, Kite Hill, Impossible Foods, Aleph Farms, Memphis Meats, and other category leaders.
• Their experience, track record, and investment thesis has attracted capital from some of the biggest global names in the food & ag and investment spaces, with Lever VC announcing a final close on Lever VC Fund I at $80 million.

Calysta eyes global expansion with completion of $39m funding round [Global Ag Investing]

• Innovative biotechnology company Calysta announced it has completed its $39 million Series D-1 round in support of the global expansion of its natural, sustainable, and traceable feed ingredients for fish, livestock, and pets. Led by bp ventures, the round was also joined by Aqua-Spark, Adisseo, and WTI, along with other existing Calysta inventors.

For 2nd time in 2021, Egypt issues dollar-denominated bonds to raise up to $3B [Egypt Today]

• This is Egypt’s second dollar-denominated bonds issuance in 2021, taking advantage of lower borrowing costs before the US Federal Reserve decides when to reduce monetary stimulus.
• The issuance includes six-year notes with an initial yield of 6.125% as well as 12- and 30-year notes targeting returns of 7.625% and 8.875%, respectively, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg and asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Macro Commitments

Investment consultants with $10 trillion make net-zero pledge [Bloomberg Green]

• A dozen investment consultants advising on $10 trillion of assets are pledging to cut net greenhouse-gas emissions to zero by 2050.
• The group, including Cambridge Associates and Willis Towers Watson, started the Net Zero Investment Consultants Initiative, which identifies nine steps to reach that goal, according to a statement.

Indonesia okays route for USD-21.8bn Australia-Asia solar power link [Renewables Now]

• The Indonesian government has cleared the subsea survey permit and the proposed route of a subsea power link that will allow importing electricity into Singapore from an up to 20-GWp solar complex in Australia.

California Governor Newsom outlines historic $15 billion package to tackle the climate crisis and protect vulnerable communities [CA.Gov]

• Governor Gavin Newsom last week highlighted the California Comeback Plan’s over $15 billion climate package – the largest such investment in state history – tackling a wide array of climate impacts facing the state. The Governor signed legislation outlining investments in the package to build wildfire and forest resilience, support immediate drought response and long-term water resilience and directly protect communities across the state from multi-faceted climate risks, including extreme heat and sea level rise.

Mercedes-Benz plans $8.2 billion European battery venture [Bloomberg Green]

• Daimler AG will team up with Stellantis NV and TotalEnergies SE to boost the scale of their European battery venture to more than 7 billion euros ($8.2 billion) and secure supplies for electric Mercedes-Benz cars.
• The world’s biggest luxury-car maker will take a 33% stake in battery manufacturer Automotive Cells Company, whose projects will be financed through equity, debt and subsidies, Daimler said Friday. ACC aims for capacity of at least 120 gigawatt hours in Europe by the end of the decade, more than double the amount the two founding partners initially laid out.

Record $5bn donation to protect nature could herald new green era of giving [The Guardian]

• Last week, a group of nine philanthropic foundations made the largest ever donation to nature conservation, pledging $5bn to finance the protection of 30% of land and sea by the end of the decade. Swiss businessman Hansjörg Wyss, also a major donor to progressive causes in the US, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos were among the billionaires behind the Protecting our Planet challenge.
• Despite high-profile examples, environmental philanthropy remains dwarfed by other areas, accounting for only about 8% of giving, according to the NGO Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Contributions explicitly to conservation and to protect biodiversity have been even more neglected. But there are signs that this is changing.

INEOS to switch Grangemouth to hydrogen in $1.4 bln pursuit of net zero [Reuters]

• INEOS [RIC:RIC:INEOSG.UL] said it will convert its vast Scottish petrochemicals plant and oil refinery at Grangemouth to run on hydrogen at a cost of more than 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) to make it 'net zero' for carbon emissions by 2045.

Nestlé investing $1.29B to support regenerative agriculture [Food Dive]

• Nestlé announced it is investing 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.29 billion) over the next five years to support and accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture across its global supply chain. The company will work with its network of more than 500,000 farmers and 150,000 suppliers to promote practices that enhance biodiversity, soil conservation, regeneration of water cycles and integration of livestock.
• Regenerative agriculture is a farming technique that aims to protect natural resources and restore farmland while drawing down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture accounts for nearly two-thirds of Nestlé's total emissions, the company said.

Gates raises $1 billion as corporate CEOs join race to scale clean tech [Bloomberg Green]

• Bill Gates raised more than $1 billion in corporate funding for Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, drawing on BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink and Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella to rally support for some of the world’s most demanding clean-energy projects.
• BlackRock is making a five-year, $100 million grant from its charitable foundation. Microsoft also is donating $100 million. The other backers -- General Motors Co., Bank of America Corp., American Airlines Group Inc., Boston Consulting Group and ArcelorMittal SA -- are providing a mix of equity capital and so-called offtakes, or purchase agreements tied to the projects.

Shell plans to invest USD 564m in Brazil's clean energy sector [Renewables Now]

• Oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell Plc (AMS:RDSA) plans to invest BRL 3 billion (USD 564m/EUR 480m) through 2025 in Brazil's clean energy market, including the development of renewable energy projects.

Real estate firms invest $140 million in climate tech [Axios]

• Large real estate companies are putting $140 million into a climate tech fund that aims to help decarbonize the sector, according to an announcement from the venture firm Fifth Wall.
• Why it matters: The funding round, which includes some of the largest players in the industry, signals growing momentum toward backing new technologies needed to slash carbon emissions to net-zero by midcentury and achieve negative emissions thereafter.

Bosnia's F. L. Wind to invest 120 mln euro in wind farm, solar park construction - report [Bloomberg Now]

• Bosnian renewable energy company F. L. Wind plans to build a 72.6 MW wind farm worth about 100 million euro ($117.3 million) and a 23 MW solar park worth about 20 million euro, local media reported.

Pathways, Frameworks, Case Studies, Research, Climate Science

The road to net-zero transport could cost Asia over $12 trillion, report finds [CNBC]

• Three of Asia’s largest economies will spend an estimated $12 trillion to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in their transport industries, according to Dutch bank ING.
• China, Japan and South Korea account for almost two-thirds of all carbon dioxide emissions in Asia-Pacific, and approximately a third of global emissions, said the bank.

Investors managing $6.6 trillion call for funding carbon removal [Bloomberg Green]

• Investors managing a collective $6.6 trillion are pressing the finance industry to boost funding for carbon-removal methods and standardize pollution credits as part of the effort to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels.
• Cutting the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere should remain the primary focus for investors, according to a position paper from the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, a consortium of asset managers. As much as 1.2 billion metric tons of the greenhouse gas must be removed annually by 2025 to meet the goals laid out by the Paris Agreement.

Ørsted says ScotWind success to trigger GBP-12bn investment [Renewables Now]

• Offshore wind major Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) has submitted bids for five projects representing over 8.5 GW of capacity in Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind offshore wind leasing round.
• If the proposals are successful, the Danish company said today it plans to invest up to GBP 12 billion (USD 16.4bn/EUR 14bn) directly with Scottish businesses in the development and construction of offshore wind farms in Scotland over the next 10 years.

Climate tech heats up in the Pacific Northwest as startups raise more than $1B since 2020 [GeekWire]

• The Pacific Northwest — home to established tech heavyweights including Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing — is now fostering the growth of up-and-coming climate-tech powerhouses. Climate tech businesses in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia have amassed roughly $2 billion in venture capital equity, according to a GeekWire analysis. More than half of that was raised since the start of 2020.

Ford adds jobs to meet soaring demand for electric F-150 Lightning [Axios]

• The electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup hasn't even gone on sale yet, but demand is so hot that the company is already expanding production.
• With 150,000 "pre-orders" in hand, Ford said it will invest an additional $250 million and add 450 more jobs to boost production at the EV assembly plant and two nearby component factories.