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Earth

Keeping It Green

Green Investing

 

Investing in companies whose goal
is to produce wealth while
helping to preserve our planet

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Of Interest

• • Bitcoin's Energy Hunger

  BitCoin Transaction Energy Costs

  Dec 6, 2017,(INHABITAT)-The skyrocketing value of Bitcoin is leading to soaring energy consumption. According to one widely cited website that tracks the subject, the Bitcoin network is consuming power at an annual rate of 32TWh—about as much as Denmark. By the site's calculations, each Bitcoin transaction consumes 250kWh, enough to power homes for nine days..

• • Investing in Companies That Fight Pollution

  List of Pollution Control Stocks

  July 17, 2018 -Pollution control stocks are publicly traded companies whose business involves technologies for removing or reducing the emissions of harmful pollutants, contaminants, and/or waste from human activity, or removing these pollutants from the environment or water.

  Click now for a complete list
  from Alt Energy Stocks.

• • Not Really Such Green Investing

  Billions Still Being
  Funneled into Carbon-Based
  Energy, Climate-Denier Policies

  Feb. 26, 2018 -In this minicast, new reports show that the world’s biggest banks are still investing billions in fossil-fuel technologies and U.S. energy firms are aggressively funding climate-denier policy.

  Click to listen to the podcast
  from Renewable Energy World.

• • Look Who's Investing in Solar

  Finance Institutions Are Making
  a Massive Investment in Solar

  Dec. 21, 2017 - The European Investment Bank (EIB) recently put its stamp on a series of financing deals that will boost solar development in India and Peru, and support new solar technology advancements.

  Click now to read the
  story from Renewable Energy World.

• • Investments and Environmental Risk

  Sovereign Investors Tweak
  Portfolios for Environmental Risk

  June 19, 2017 - Some sovereign investors are reducing their exposure to fossil fuels or seeking clean alternatives to protect their portfolios from rising environmental risk.

  Norway's $900 billion sovereign wealth fund (SWF) -- itself financed by oil sales -- and the New Zealand Super Fund (NZSF) are among those adjusting investments in anticipation of tougher environmental rules or damage from the impact of global warming.

• • What is the Green Bank?

  Government Contractors Will Want
  to Watch This Trend Carefully!

  May 8, 2017 -A bank located in the U.S. Northeast has drawn the attention of state officials nationwide. The three-year-old bank, however, is not your typical loans, checking account and cash services bank. The article supplies the details.

• • Leading the Way on Divestature

  The Global Movement to Divest
  From Fossil Fuels Is Unstoppable

  May 15, 2017 - Over the past 10 days the pressure to break ties with the fossil fuel industry has never been greater, as thousands of people attended over 260 events in 45 countries on six continents during the Global Divestment Mobilisation (GDM), demanding institutions divest from fossil fuels. At a time when governments are failing to meet their climate-related promises and President Trump is threatening to leave the Paris Agreement, we can’t afford to stand-by waiting for our governments to do the right thing.

• • Seattle Divests From Wells Fargo

  Seattle Votes To Divest Billions of
  Dollars From Wells Fargo
  Over Dakota Access Pipeline

  Feb 7, 2017 - Seattle could pull billions out of its W.F. account because of its role in the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Their City Council committee voted unanimously to divest nearly $3 billion of the city’s funds from Wells Fargo, one of 17 financial institutions involved in financing the contentious project.

• • Don’t Let That Investment “Go to Waste”

  List of Waste-to-Energy Stocks

  June 17, 2018 - Waste-to-energy stocks are publicly traded companies whose business involves using municipal or other waste as a feedstock to create fuel or electricity. Organic matter and plastics in a waste stream can be converted to fuel and/or electricity chemically, by means of pyrolysis, biologically such as in anaerobic digestion, or by incineration. Alternatively, energy from waste can be captured from natural processes, such as in the collection of methane gas from landfills.

• • List of Smart Grid Stocks

  Publicly Traded Companies Using Technology
  to Efficiently Operate the Grid

  May 8, 2018 -There are about 30 companies that fit the bill.

  Click now for a list from AltEnergy Stocks.

• • Hi-Yield Alt. Energy Stocks

  List of High Yield
  Alternative Energy Stocks

  July 9, 2018 -This is a list of renewable and alternative energy stocks with dividend or distribution yields above 4%. The list includes most Yieldcos (high distribution companies that own renewable energy operations), but is not limited to Yieldcos. Some Yieldcos may be excluded if their yield is below 4%.

  Click now for the list
  from Alt Energy Stocks.

• • Wunder Monetizing the Fed ITC

  How to Monetize the Fed.
  Solar Investment Tax Credit

  Wunder Capital has designed this guide to help answer your questions about the Federal ITC and walk you through the process of how it can be monetized. Download the free PDF and learn more about it.

• • Infrastructure for a Green Future

  New Asian Infrastructure Investment
  Bank Starts Building a Green Future

  July 5, 2016 -China launched the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) last year. It boasted an initial capital of $100 billion, a founding membership of 57 countries (with 24 more waiting to join end of this year), and a mandate to be “lean, clean and green.”

• • Tata Says ‘Tata’ to Fossil Fuels

  India's Tata Power to
  Buy $1.4BN Renewables Portfolio

  June 14, 2016 -Tata Power agreed to buy a 1.1-GW solar and wind portfolio from Welspun Renewable Energy in India’s biggest clean energy deal, according to an exchange filing.

• • Green Bond Fund for Kenya

  Kenya Plans Debut Green Bond
  to Fund Renewable Energy Projects

  June 13, 2016“-East Africa’s biggest economy, is in talks with international investors to prepare the sale of the country’s first green bond, Nairobi Securities Exchange Chief Executive Officer said.

Balqon

Bloomberg America
Clean Energy Index

Breakthrough Enegy Ventures

Breckinridge Develops
Sustainability Modeling Framework

Domini Social Investments

Investing for Good

Fossil Free

It's Wrong to Profit from
the Wrecking of the Climate

Green Century

Green Money Journal

Investor Ideas

Lime Energy

Morgan Stanley Low
Carbon Investments

The Progressive Investor

Robecosam

Sustainable Investing

Rocky Mountain Institute

Sierra Club Mutual Funds

Solar Guides

 

Winslow Green Growth Fund

VanEck Vectors

Income With Impact

Most green bonds are structurally identical to “plain vanilla” conventional bonds, but are distinguished by a clearly disclosed “green” use of proceeds.
      • Energy Information technology    • Buildings    • Waste and pollution
        • Industry    • Agriculture and forestry    • Transport    • Adaptation

 

Wunder Captial

• Warren Buffet is No Environmental Hero

  In Opposing Climate
  and Diversity Proposals, Buffett
  Risks Looking Out of Step

  May 3, 2021 (NY Times)-Executives across corporate America, from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, have begun to heed calls from investors to disclose more about their companies’ actions on climate change and work force diversity. Warren E. Buffett isn’t among them.

  Berkshire Hathaway, the $630 billion conglomerate he runs, is opposing two shareholder proposals that ask its board to publish annual reports on how it is tackling environmental and diversity issues.

• Big Banks’ Trillion-Dollar Fossil Fuels Financing

  Coal, Oil and Gas Firms Have Received
  $3.8tn Since The 2015 Paris Climate Deal

  Mar. 24, 2021 (The Guardian) -Despite the Covid-19 pandemic cutting energy use, overall funding remains on an upward trend and the finance provided in 2020 was higher than in 2016 or 2017, a fact the report’s authors and others described as “shocking”.

  Oil, gas and coal will need to be burned for some years to come. But it has been known since at least 2015 that a significant proportion of existing reserves must remain in the ground if global heating is to remain below 2C, the main Paris target.

• Big New Climate Goal for the Corporate World

  From Non Other than BlackRock

  Jan. 26, 2021 (NY Times Climate Forward)- A year ago this month, the BlackRock chief Laurence D. Fink wrote a letter to the world’s C.E.O.s with an urgent message: Climate change will be “a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects.” Underscoring his point, he added, “We are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance.”

• Morgan Stanley Takes Stake in SolMicroGrid

  The Company Sees Promise
  in Resilient Microgrids

  Jan. 11, 2021(POWERGRID International)-Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Energy Partners (MSEP), part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, announced today that they have completed an investment in Alpharetta, Georgia-based SolMicroGrid to help support the growth of SolMicroGrid’s business, which offers innovative microgrid solutions through an Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) business model.

• Institutional Investors Are Opting For the “Safe Haven” Of Clean Tech

  They Are Running Away From Big Oil

  (CleanTechnica), Jan 1, 2021, -The global transition from fossil fuels to clean energy isn’t going to happen because it’s the best choice for human health and the environment. Observing the way humans have responded to the current pandemic should put to rest any delusions about our propensity to “do the right thing.” No, companies and investors will abandon polluting energy sources when they become convinced that it’s the profitable thing to do. Fortunately, we’re seeing strong signs that this is beginning to happen.

  Alex Kimani, writing in the oil industry trade magazine OilPrice.com, explains how an increasing number of large institutional investors are shifting their assets from the oil patch to what are called “ESG” (Environmental, Social and Governance) investments — a category that includes renewable energy and e-mobility.

• Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2021

  Here is the List

  (AltEnergyStocks), Dec. 29, 2020, by Tom Konrad, Ph.D., An annual tradition, here is my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2021, which is also the new model portfolio for the year, with equal dollar values of each stock using closing prices on 12/29/2020.

  Returning Stocks:
  • Mix Telematics (MIXT), Green Plains Partners (GPP), • Covanta Holding (CVA), • Red Electrica (REE.MC, RDEIF, RDEIY), • Valeo, SA (FR.PA, VLEEF, VLEEY), • Veolia (VIE.PA, VEOEF, VEOEY

  New Stocks:
  • Scorpio Bulkers, Inc. (SALT) – Dry bulk shipper converting to offshore wind construction, • Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners (BEP) – A leading clean energy Yieldco with significant hydropower assets., • Umicore, SA (UMI.BR, UMICF, UMICY) – Leading recycler of batteries and specialty metals.,• Avangrid (AGR) – Owner of renewable generation and utilities.

  
  Click now the story and some graphs.
• Getting a Charge Out of Green Funding

  Ct. Green Bank and EV Charging
  Companies Together For Future Funding

  (POWERGRID International), Dec. 10, 2020 - Connecticut Green Bank and its partners are proud to announce a collaboration that is the first joinable, grouped carbon offset credit project registered under the new methodology for electric vehicle (EV) charging systems. The project design has been successfully validated under Verra’s internationally recognized Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program by third-party verification firm, SCS Global Services.

  CT Green Bank’s expanding roster of project partners, which currently includes EV pioneers Volta, U-Go Stations which was recently acquired by Blink Charging, Proterra, and the Ev Structure Company – with Dominion Energy joining – already have 725 EV charging stations across the United States enrolled with the project. With registered carbon credits, this validated project, once verified in mid-2021, is expected to bring in new funding from the carbon capital markets, which will increase the value proposition and accelerate the deployment of EV charging infrastructure in communities across the U.S.

  
  Click now to read or
  listen to the story.
• Tom Steyer’s R.E. Vision for America

  Steyer is a Champion For a Renewable Energy-Powered Economy

  (Renewable Energy World), Nov. 11, 2020 -Speaking last month about JP Morgan Chase’s decision to align its lending protocols with emissions targets set by U.N. climate scientists, Tom Steyer expressed enthusiasm that a bank with a long history of investing in fossil fuel extraction has changed their tune.

  “Let’s look at who they are,” Steyer said by phone. “They’re the bank that financed frontier drilling across the riskiest places in the world and which was, until recently, headed up by the ex-CEO of Exxon Mobil,” Steyer said. “They lent hundreds of millions to billions of dollars and now they want to run their loan book according to the Paris Accord!”

  Steyer’s passion for a rapid transition to a clean, affordable and socially conscious renewable energy economy is contagious. And his vision for a future powered by renewables is not unrealistic.

  
  Click now to learn more.
• TD Bank Won't Finance Arctic Oil and Gas Activities

  This Will Aid in the Goal
  of Reaching Net-Zero Emissions

  (REUTERS)), Nov. 9, 2020 -Toronto-Dominion Bank on Monday said it will not provide project-specific financial services for oil and gas-related activities in the Arctic Circle as part of its plan to get to net-zero emissions by 2050.

  The Arctic Circle “is warming significantly faster than the rest of our planet, which poses the risk of increased green-house gas releases and further warming, the bank said in a statement.

• U.N. Chief Touts Investing in Environmentalism

  Back Shareholder Resolutions on
  Climate Change, He Says

  (REUTERS)), Nov. 9, 2020 -Investors should push companies to slash their greenhouse gas emissions faster by “systematically” supporting shareholder resolutions on climate change, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

  “Use your voting powers in companies to accelerate their decarbonization by systematically supporting climate resolutions,” Guterres told a conference in London.

• P&G Shareholders Do the Right Thing on Forestation

  Shareholders Go Against
  Company's Opposition

  (Environment America), Oct. 13, 2020 -At Procter & Gamble’s annual general meeting, which was held virtually on Tuesday, shareholders bucked the recommendation of the company’s Board and voted for a proposal asking P&G to report on its efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in its supply chains. The proposal received the support of 67% of the votes cast.

  This vote comes at a time when the company is under scrutiny for its tissue sourcing from the Canadian boreal forest. Historically, the corporation’s high-profile brands, Charmin, Bounty and Puffs brands, have relied on virgin wood fibers in their product, which leads to unnecessary logging in the Canadian boreal forest, an important carbon sink and home to caribou, lynx and more.

• Green Bonds Shoot Past Trillion-Dollar Mark

  The Result of Clean Energy Progress

  (Renewable Energy World), Oct. 6, 2020 - According to research company BloombergNEF (BNEF), green bonds have passed their biggest milestone yet, with more than $1 trillion issued since these securities first emerged in 2007.

  BNEF says that green bonds are the longest standing and most heavily used instrument in the sustainable debt market, which covers a range of fixed-income products offering environmental and social benefits.

  Green bonds are used to finance sustainable infrastructure, from wind farms to wastewater management. More than $200B worth of green bonds have been issued in 2020 alone, according to the research firm. This represents a 12% increase compared with the first nine months of 2019. Together, corporate, government, municipal and mortgage green bond issuance in 2020 trailed 2019’s volumes through August. This all changed in September, when green bonds saw more than $50 billion brought to market in that month alone.

• Investors Managing Trillions Steer Firms Towards Net-zero Emissions

  Investors Want Their Money Funding Climate-Friendly Companiese

  (ZME SCIENCE), -Sept. 15, 2020, A leading group of investors has sent a letter to the boards of the world’s largest corporate emitters of greenhouse gases, asking them to produce a strategy to move their business to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner. The investors will now follow the progress of such strategies based on a group of 30 indicators.

  The Climate Action 100+ initiative was launched in 2017 and includes more than 500 global investors that collectively manage over $47 trillion in assets. They targeted 161 companies in their letter, which are collectively responsible for up to 80% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

• Fed. Report Warns of Climate Change Financial Havoc

  Commodity Futures Trading
  Commission Made the Warning

  (NY Times Climate Forward)-Sept. 8, 2020 A report commissioned by federal regulators overseeing the nation’s commodities markets has concluded that climate change threatens U.S. financial markets, as the costs of wildfires, storms, droughts and floods spread through insurance and mortgage markets, pension funds and other financial institutions.

  “A world wracked by frequent and devastating shocks from climate change cannot sustain the fundamental conditions supporting our financial system,” concluded the report, “Managing Climate Risk in the Financial System,” which was requested last year by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and set for release on Wednesday morning.

• R.E. to Soar This Decade With $3.4 Trillion in Invest ments

  So Put Your Money
  Where Your Panels Are

  (Renewable Energy World), -Sept. 2, 2020, The 2020s will be crucial for all the participants in the power industry as the transition toward renewables is expected to increase, while coal takes a downturn in most developed markets. This is according to Frost & Sullivan’s (F&S) recent analysis, Growth Opportunities from Decarbonization in the Global Power Market, 2019-2030.

  Falling costs and renewable-friendly energy policies adopted by several countries in the six major geographies—North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, China, and India—are prominent reasons why solar PV and wind capacity additions are expected to soar this decade, F&S.states.

• Is Big Oil Still a Big Deal?

  Exxon's Departure From the
  Dow is Just One Symptom

  (Bloomberg News), Aug. 30, 2020 -There will be just one oil company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average — Chevron Corp. The removal of Exxon Mobil Corp. from the index after an uninterrupted presence since 1928 shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s not the end of Big Oil, but it may signal the start of the beginning of the end.

  It may seem odd to remove one of only two oil companies in the index at a time when the shale boom has transformed America's role in the global market. After all, the U.S. now produces more oil and more natural gas than any other country. Last year’s domestic oil production was up by 125% from levels in 2010, while gas output has increased by 60%.

  But those figures only tell part of the story, and not the most important part.

• Climate Activists Gain Seats on Harvard Oversight Board

  The Candidates Were the
  First Ones Elected Through a
  Petition Campaign Since 1989

  NY Times Climate Forward, Aug. 21, 2020 -Bucking tradition, a group of climate activists has won three seats in an election to an important governing body at Harvard University, the Board of Overseers, the university announced Friday.

  The slate of candidates ran on a platform that included calls for the university to drop fossil fuel investments from its portfolio, part of a divestment movement that has swept college campuses for the better part of a decade.

• Connecticut Green Bonds

  A Chance to Fund the
  War on Climate Change

  July 9, 2020,(Renewable Energy World) -The Connecticut Green Bank is offering residents a new way to personally invest in projects that confront climate change: mini green bonds.

  This month the bank will bring to market about $16 million in what it is calling Green Liberty Bonds. The bonds will have a $1,000 face value, an uncommonly low denomination that is intended to make them broadly accessible.

  Proceeds from the bond sales will help fund the green bank’s clean energy efforts, which are otherwise supported through a utility bill surcharge, proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and some federal funds.

• A Huge Investment Opportunity To Reduce Carbon

  Why Climate Investors
  May Be Missing Out

  June 9, 2020,(Forbes) -Plastic waste and climate change go together. In fact, the mismanagement of plastic waste is a serious contributor to climate change and a significant — but often overlooked — investment opportunity for climate investors. Investors have (understandably) focused on opportunities directly related to climate change, such as renewables, fuel cells, or energy efficiency, to fight climate change. But that approach is wholly insufficient: climate change is a systems problem that demands a system solution. That means we have to think broader.

  According to The Ellen Macarthur Foundation, moving to renewables can result in a 55% reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions. The remaining 45% of emissions will need to come from the complex systems that produce, deliver, and use our products and food. Adopting a circular economy framework in plastics, as well as other key areas like steel, aluminum, cement, and food can achieve a reduction totaling 9.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases in 2050.

  Climate finance and circular plastic investing are going to need to come together to address the climate crisis in a comprehensive way.

• Market Potemtial: The Hydrogen Economy

  Fuelling the Fight Against Climate Change

  (Barclays.com)May 21, 2020, -Pressure is growing for the world to move to a lower-carbon pathway. As demand for scalable alternatives to fossil fuels intensifies, hydrogen is gaining momentum as a means to decarbonise hard-to-electrify parts of the global economy.

  Barclays Research highlights the opportunity ahead for hydrogen to help power the net-zero carbon economy, indicating an annual hydrogen market potentially worth over $1 trillion by 2050.

  The International Energy Agency data suggests CO2 emissions could fall 8% in 2020 – the largest ever yearly drop – primarily due to the global pandemic shutdown. But emissions need to fall close to this amount every year this decade to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels – the preferred level stipulated by the 2016 UN Paris Agreement. Hydrogen could be a potential solution to decarbonising the world at speed.

• 3 Reasons to Invest in Renewable Energy Now

  Investment in Renewables:
  Now is the Time

  May 6, 2020 (Renewable Energy World) -As the human tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic worsens, global restrictions to stop the spread of the virus — including stay-at-home orders, business closures and travel prohibitions — may contribute to the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The virus has already made an indelible impact on the energy sector: Global energy use is predicted to fall 6% over the course of 2020; the renewable energy industry has not been spared.

  According to Wood Mackenzie estimates, 2020 global solar and energy storage installations are expected to drop nearly 20% compared to pre-COVID-19 projections; wind turbine installations are expected to decline by 4.9 gigawatts (GW), a 6% decrease. Declining renewable energy installations and energy efficiency measures led to 106,000 lost jobs in March alone in the United States, compared to 51,000 drilling and refining jobs lost over the same time period. Analysis shows that 15% of the country’s total clean energy workforce1 could be lost over the coming months — more than a half-million jobs.

  
  But there's good news, too. Click
  now to read about it.