Sir Ronald Cohen, veteran venture capitalist and impact investing guru, explains why he believes we’re on the verge of an impact revolution. According to Oscar Wilde, a cynic is a man who “knows the price of everything but the value of nothing”. Sir Ronald Cohen is a man who wants to know the price of everything a company does to impact…
Microsoft Signs Deal to Buy Biochar Carbon Removal Credits
Carbon credit streaming company Carbon Streaming announced an agreement with Microsoft, providing the tech giant with up to 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide removal credits per year from the Waverly Biochar project in Waverly, Virginia. Biochar, or biological charcoal, is produced by heating biomass, such as forest residue, wood or crop waste, in the absence of oxygen, creating a stable…
Emissions Tracking and Reporting Software Startup Plan A Raises $27 Million
European carbon measurement, reporting and reduction software provider Plan A announced that it has raised $27 million, with proceeds from the financing aimed at growing its team and expanding its platform’s capabilities. Founded in 2017, Plan A provides corporate carbon accounting, decarbonization, and ESG reporting software. The company’s Sustainability Platform automatically maps data across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions,…
IBM Adds Scope 3 Emissions Analysis Capabilities to ESG Data Platform
IBM announced the integration of natural language processing (NLP) in its ESG data collection, analysis and reporting platform IBM Envizi ESG Suite, significantly enhancing the solution’s ability to capture, calculate and analyze organizations’ Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The new features come as companies globally face increasing regulatory pressure to report on their Scope 3 emissions, or those originating…
SEC Adopts Rule Requiring ESG-Labelled Funds to Invest 80% in Alignment with Theme
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the adoption of new rules that will require funds with names that suggest an investment focus on ESG or sustainability-related factors to invest at least 80% of the value of assets in accordance with those factors. The SEC action consists of an amendment of the Commission’s “Names Rule,” first adopted in…
HSBC to Provide $1 Billion Financing to Climate Tech Startups
HSBC announced today that it plans to make available $1bn of financing to support early-stage climate tech companies around the world. The new commitment comes as funding for climate startups is tightening, with the bank noting that venture capital funding for climate start-ups plunged by 40 per cent in the first half of 2023, as market conditions are pressuring tech…
EU Lawmakers Ban Generic and Emissions Offsetting-Based Green Product Claims
Lawmakers at the European Parliament and EU Council announced that they have reached a provisional agreement on new rules aimed at protecting consumers from misleading sustainability claims and greenwashing practices, including bans on unverified generic environmental claims and those based on emissions offsetting schemes. The agreement follows the release in March 2022 by the EU Commission of a set of…