Happy Tuesday, we’ve been working away to bring you an overview of the climate fintech landscape (Which has really been heating up this year). Watch this space!
In today’s edition:
🏦 Green challenger bank goes public
🌿 Seaweed is the future
🚨 A greenwashing clampdown
Big Business (2-minute read)
Green challenger bank, Aspiration, going public via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC)
Aspiration is a fintech company which focuses on conscious consumerism. While major banks have funneled billions of dollars into the fossil fuel industry, Aspiration offers members the ability to offset the effects of every gallon of fuel they pay for, and rounds up purchases to use the change to plant trees. The company will be listed, via a SPAC, on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a valuation of over $2 billion.
SPAC attack: Traditional initial public offerings (IPOs) take time. By merging with a SPAC (see below) Aspiration will get an influx of funds quicker so they can capitalise on the rampant demand for their product (5 million users and counting)
Tesco & WWF join forces for sustainable farming
Cows are responsible for 2% of all the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Tesco and WWF are collaborating to reduce dairy farming’s carbon emissions by offering farmers a subsidy when they buy a soil-enriching mix of grass seeds to feed their cows. These seeds promote improved soil health, and can extract nutrients better than their counterparts (reducing the need for artificial fertiliser). However, they aren’t widely used by dairy farmers due to cost.
Stem the tide: As the alternative dairy market continues to expand (expected to grow 12.5% between 2021 – 2031), Tesco are seeking innovative ways to keep conscious consumers by offering sustainably produced traditional dairy products.
America’s biggest solar brewery project
Anheuser-Busch has announced plans to build the biggest onsite solar installation of any American brewery. Once implemented solar power will generate over 10% of the LA site’s total electricity use. The $64million investment at the brewery is part of the company’s strategy to accelerate America’s green recovery and support communities.
🤖 Future of Tech (1-minute read)
Seaweed – the future of packaging?
Multinational packaging company, DH Smith, have completed tests to prove that seaweed can be used in a range of packaging products, such as those used to protect perishable food produce. The seaweed project is part of the company’s £100 million Circular Economy R&D programme, which focuses on producing packaging from natural fibres, like straw, hemp and agricultural waste.
Savvy business: Seaweed’s use in manufacturing is expanding, with the European seaweed industry expected to be worth over £8billion by 2030. The industry could be a timely solution for Mexico’s coast which is battling against a foul-smelling seaweed pile up.
Tesla using Blockchain for sustainable sourcing of cobalt and nickel
The challenge: A rapidly growing market for batteries across the globe has intensified pressures on suppliers of cobalt and nickel to meet surges in demand – with reports of child labour and poor environmental performance.
The blockchain solution: Tesla’s publication of its 2020 impact report confirmed the company is using two blockchain solutions to track the raw materials used in batteries for its electric vehicles to ensure sustainable sourcing. Tesla selected Re|Source to trace cobalt, and BHP to trace nickel sourced from Australia. With this transparency comes increased power to recognise and address social and environmental issues.
💡Deep Dive (1-minute read)
We’ve spoken previously about efforts to tackle greenwashing in ….
- Corporate reporting – with global efforts to consolidate the ‘alphabet soup’ of frameworks, spearheaded by the Global Sustainability Standards Board
- Sustainable Investing – as New EU rules on what constitutes a sustainable investment fund resulted in a shrinkage in the number being marketed as such.
Now, regulators are honing in on green claims made on consumer products, and the UK government is leading the charge.
Not easy being green: Nearly 70% of consumers suggest they would pay a premium for products that do not impact the environment. Unsurprisingly, environmental claims on products have proliferated. A study found 76% of non-food products contained an environmental claim yet 40% of these could be misleading.
Clamp down … The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published draft guidelines (given the green light by the government) which put onus on companies to:
- Consider the full “life cycle” of products
- Substantiate claims on products with accessible data
- Not to omit or hide information that prevent consumers making informed choices
Slightly wishy washy… but more detailed guidelines are due in September. The CMA themselves are under pressure to be ‘bolder about going after areas of consumer harm’.
Regulator under pressure + new government-backed powers = UK businesses on alert as the CMA will be looking for a greenwashing ‘scalp’. Just this week the government launched an investigation into ‘green’ energy deals.
💭 Little Bytes
Quote: “The power generation sector has been the fastest to decarbonize so far. This is great, but considering the increasing electrification needed to make progress in decarbonizing heating and transport, further growth in renewables is required.” David Radermacher, Vice President Sustainability & Climate at E.ON SE
Stat: Siberian wildfires send smoke to the North Pole for the first time in history – NASA
Watch: An African company that has turned Cashew’s into a community-boosting fair trade crop
🗞 In other news…
- Bitcoin goes green: Cryptocurrency miners are flocking to Texas to run their operations on cheaper sustainable energy sources
- Green Steel: Swedish company ships first batch made without using coal
- Your Waze map will now show you restaurants that are selling discounted leftover food to help tackle food waste
- Beyond Meat signals Vegan dairy entry with ‘Beyond Milk’ trademark filing
- Bill Gates pledges $1.5 billion to climate projects through partnership with the US Department of Energy
