Johnny D Mattimore

🚨 Greenhill and Ely Place have released their H2 2024 secondary market reports🚨 👇 ‣ Greenhill: https://lnkd.in/d2BG_NZq ‣ Ely Place (focussed on private debt): https://lnkd.in/eJqnfbMY ________________________ #privateEquity #privateDebt #secondaryMarket #liquidity

20

It is going to be a busy day for all of us in sustainability roles - The Financial Conduct Authority has just published two highly anticipated documents! 1️⃣ Finalised Guidance FG24/3 Finalised non‑handbook guidance on the Anti‑Greenwashing Rule 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eJCsGS_u 2️⃣ Consultation Paper CP24/8** Extending the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime to Portfolio Management  🔗 https://lnkd.in/eXPUdMAs 🧐 We look forward to sharing our comments in due course! Please DM me or email us at ESG ACCORD (Accord Initiative) if you have any questions. #AccordInitiative #compliance #esginvesting #climate #sustainableinvesting #financialplanning #esg #wealthmanagement

32

2 Comments

How to stop banks gorging at the all-you-can eat carbon buffet? Concentration limits offer one solution, as highlighted in Mark Levonian's recent paper for the Council on Economic Policies. However, I wonder whether carbon-related concentration limits would fly from a prudential standpoint. Read my take in today's Unpacking Climate Risk, and sign up to the thrice-weekly newsletter while you're at it 👇 https://lnkd.in/eyjZ89v7 Where else can you read articles on climate risk that *also* make reference to Cheryl Tweedy bangers? https://lnkd.in/etsB3QmE #climatechange #climaterisk #concentrationrisk #sustainability #banking #riskmanagement

8

Carbon Credit listings have ramped up on Carbon Trade eXchange (CTX) - led by a new 50,000 Credits (Vintage 2023) from Turkey issued by Verra VCS at only $6.50 with The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) CCP accreditation. The latest larger purchases offer of No Fees or Commissions for trades over 10,000 credits was enhanced with the COP29 Azerbaijan offer of a Bundled 10k deal (3+ projects) if we get firm agreement to buy this week (OTC or exchange). Now is the time to Reduce and Invest - for Businesses to take charge of their own destiny and lead. Watch out for a series of new Credit listings from Global Carbon Registry in December. contact [email protected] to take action.

17

1 Comment

How about a magic trick? There was something odd about the Bank of England's market notice yesterday, which bars loans on certain energy inefficient buy-to-let properties from being included in its collateral program. It was announced as a risk management measure, but the amount of collateral excluded is so tiny, and so unlikely to be a source of climate risk to the Bank, I thought something else might be at play. Find out more by reading today's Unpacking Climate Risk! Sign up to receive three articles a week here 👇 https://lnkd.in/e_UbeTuh https://lnkd.in/edZcy5BY #climaterisk #climatetransition #riskmanagement #sustainability

10

As forecast by Greenwich Forum experts, asset owners incl. #centralbanks and #SWFs buying #gold and #energy assets: what are they telling us about the future? #JoinUs #21_22_October g20pensions.org 👑GreenwichSummit.org Future of Investing European Finance Week UK & EU #Pensions #fiduciary #LaborAndCapital #viamedia Impact Forum #impactforum #impactful

11

🌿 Solving the Carbon Market Integrity Crisis🌿 I strongly recommend Simon Mundy's latest article in the Financial Times on the integrity crisis plaguing the voluntary carbon market. The piece echoes a report I wrote with Cara Howse for BeZero Carbon last year called "Quality isn't Binary" (Read here: https://lnkd.in/eauB6feK). His piece highlights the urgent need for robust standards, carbon ratings and transparency to ensure that carbon credits genuinely contribute to climate goals. Some highlights: 🔐 Securities, not commodities. By viewing carbon credits more like securities—akin to stocks and bonds—rather than a fungible commodity, we can enhance their reliability and effectiveness. As Tommy Ricketts rightly points out, carbon credits are an imperfect asset, not a pure commodity. This perspective is crucial for understanding their role and potential. 👨‍💻 Demand for durable removals needs to grow. Tech companies like Microsoft and Stripe are leading the growth of the durable carbon removal market. These expensive, higher quality credits are easier to use as a direct emission offset. 📉 Adopting internal carbon pricing mechanisms can further incentivize companies to maximize their climate impact. This approach shifts the focus from cheap offsetting to meaningful contributions, ensuring funds are directed towards projects with the highest environmental benefit. 📘 Read his article here: https://lnkd.in/e4Ntv-xf

77

3 Comments

Splish, Splash, Crash: The UK's Water Investment Wipeout 🌊 Good read from Josephine Cumbo and Gill Plimmer on the Universities Superannuation Scheme (Ltd)'s troubled investment. Divesting responsibilities away from core public services is like asking a fox to babysit your chickens 🦊🐔. Imagine, if you will, a family tasked with raising healthy, happy children. Their focus? Ensuring little Timmy eats his veggies, gets his homework done, and avoids sticking forks into power sockets. Now, imagine if this family's primary goal shifted from raising well-rounded individuals to making money off their own children then we have a problem. This stark shift in priorities aptly represents the dilemma Water faces under the current model. The £96b Splash (AMP8) 💦 The water industry plans a £96b investment from 2025-2030, nearly double current levels. But here’s the kicker: there’s a £13.7b shortfall each year and £68.5b gap over 5 years. Numbers Speak Louder 📊 Annual Investment: £5.5b 💸 Needed Investment: £19.2b 📈 GDP Growth I.A.(1989-2023): 250% 📊 (from approx. £0.7t to £2.5t) Population Growth (1989-2023): 17.5% 👥 Investment Growth (1989-2023): 120% 💧 What customers pay: £13.4B; £448 avg bill x ~30M households 💵 (Water Share: Thames Water 25%, South West Water 10%, United Utilities 30%, Severn Trent 20%, Anglian Water Services Water 15%) Learnings from OECD 🌍 France 🇫🇷 A mixed model with local oversight ensures public interest. It’s like having your cake and eating it too—public control with a sprinkle of private efficiency. Germany 🇩🇪 Public control delivers top-notch water quality. It’s like a Michelin-starred chef running the kitchen, ensuring every drop is pristine. USA 🇺🇸 Robust regulations and $55B from the Infrastructure Act, but still an $81B shortfall. Turbo-charged but not quite there yet. Ofwat: The Regulatory Stand-Up Routine 🎭 Enter Ofwat, the regulator with the unenviable task of keeping water companies in line. Their role is crucial, yet often it feels like watching a stand-up routine where the punchlines just don’t land. Thames Water was ordered to invest £1.5bn but splashed out just £1.05bn. Ofwat’s oversight??? The Bare Necessities: Food, Shelter, and Water 💧 Food, shelter, and water are fundamental rights, not profit opportunities. Toothless regulation and profit-driven priorities shift focus from public welfare to shareholder dividends, leading to higher costs and lower quality. Blaming the private sector for seeking profit? That's not governance. Vision for Decision Makers 🏛️ To the incoming Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Dive deep into investment needs. Prioritise sustainability, bolster innovation and ensure consumer protection. Roll up your sleeves as the stakes are too high. Sources: Ofwat, Financial Times, WATERBRIEFING.ORG , MoneyHelper, Office for National Statistics, The World Bank, Le Monde Bundesministerium für Gesundheit)

3

An excellent report which could be an important moment for transition finance. It recognises the challenges and gives some clear recommendations. Over to the Government and Transition Finance Council to step up, give the policy certainty and build the national sector and transition plans needed. #TransitionFinanceMarketReview #SustainableFinance #ESG

5

I read today's article in the The Guardian (see link in comments below) with interest. The dawning realisation and indeed policy endorsement to promoting the continued usage of #naturalgas in the #UK's power system, demonstrates a level of common sense from the incoming #Labour administration - though let's not pick bones about the fact that the previous administration's decision to extend usage of #CCGTs met with widespread criticism from across the chamber at the time.  The idea that greater penetration of renewables in the system requires greater #flexiblepower provided by natural gas #powergeneration, is clear - at least until and unless it is displaced by #nuclear, or indeed #longdurationstorage, which can recycle green #electrons. The jury's currently out on the latter from a commercialisation perspective, and new nuclear build is years ahead. So natural gas continues to be the #decarbonised transition fuel of choice. But here's the kicker, with #carboncapture #technology attached to gas generators, we can deliver #netzero flexible power into the #grid. And why only #sequester the #CO2? Why not create a further revenue opportunity by scrubbing or reusing the CO2 in products such as food grade #industrialgases or #carbonblack products, or indeed #methanol? In doing so, a real opportunity exists to invest without the dependence on #subsidy. At Victory Hill Capital Partners LLP, our thematic approach to investing in the #energytransition foresaw such an #evolution, hence our investment in a UK programme which provides #gasfired flexible power combined with carbon capture technology which scrubs the CO2 into #foodgrade CO2 to be sold into the industrial gases market where there is a structural short in the UK, creating a #sustainable value chain, with our partners, Landmark Power Holdings. Moving forward, we believe the picture of the #demandsidedynamics are likely to be further skewed by the emergence of generational #AI technology in #datacentres. With the amount of energy required for AI technology tasks being 10x more than the equivalent Google tasks, the demand for dependable energy is expected to spike to historically higher levels in the next 10 years in #Europe, the #US and beyond. And within this context, the conversation will likely be, is natural gas a #transitionfuel? Or will it be here to stay? In which case the question arises of: who understood ahead of time the benefits of carbon capture technology, and is there sufficient policy initiatives and #privatecapital to support this? Interested? #letstalk #sustainableinvesting #unsdgs #victoryhill #gseo Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Fiona Harvey #victoryhill Emily Revess #sustainableenergy Louis Taylor John Flint Emma Floyd Valerie Hamill Victoria Seabrook Rt Hon Rachel Reeves Peter Kyle Lord Philip Hunt

55

3 Comments

Hydrogen-based ironmaking could be possible alternative for the New Ukrainian Steel Industry. Before 2014 Ukraine was one of the largest steel producing countries. Due to the russian agression (since 2014 and then 2022) the industry has been hit hard. The steel is vital for rebuilding effort. But because of the loss of coke coal supply the industry has to be rethink. #ClimateChange #Hydrogen #StandWithUkraine

2

I'm quoted in The Times looking at the impact of the US #PresidentialElection on UK #greenenergy and #sustainableinvestment. This is clearly an anxious time for those hoping to see continued climate ambition from the world’s largest economy. While our hope is that the new administration sees the massive growth potential of sustainable industries in the US, we also recognise that the global momentum behind the clean energy transition continues to build, regardless of who is in the White House. President Trump’s criticism has softened on many net-zero technologies, such as #solar and #electricvehicles, reflecting the investor, business and consumer confidence in these industries. However, if the incoming administration does not seek to capitalise on the wealth of #greeninvestment available, the UK should stand ready to take up the mantle of green #leadership. https://lnkd.in/ed9Rsy5F

50

1 Comment

An "Industrial Policy" Green Paper is most welcome and provides a framework that ought to re-assure those seeking to invest in the UK. Having a defined and detailed Industrial Policy will assist in promoting and securing long term industrial investment for the next 10 years and beyond in an integrated manner that aligns planning, infrastructure and power to commercial enterprise. A welcome a positive step to getting the inward scaled investment that the country so desperately needs to secure growth and increase productivity.

11

The worrying events in #georgia have led to sharp falls in Georgia Capital and Bank of Georgia (CGEO and BGEO), two LSE listed companies that are based in that country. BGEO in particular has been a great performer over recent years and was the second largest holding in JP Morgan's UK Small Cap Growth and Income Fund (JGGI), the last time they reported their top 10 holdings. It highlights how complex the whole "Brit ISA" concept is. I think the best approach is to say that a company listed in the UK is eligible for the Brit ISA, wherever it does business. That will support the entire UK market and the professional infrastructure that supports it, and hopefully lead to an improvement in valuations in the UK market that benefits everyone. Of course it is possible to target things more effectively, but that will introduce another layer of cost that benefits nobody, as an army of compliance officers tries to decide whether ARM (mainly based in Cambridge but listed in the US) or BP (mainly listed in UK but most operations overseas) are UK companies or not, and what happens when a clearly UK company is taken over by a global company etc. Keep it simple.

5

1 Comment

This is my kind of Sunday morning reading 📰. For such a immature industry, it was always going to need a carrot or a stick to improve things. 🥕🌿 Most people have heard of credit ratings. the correlation ratio across the major ratings agencies is pretty high, like 0.9. For ESG ratings, it's about 0.3. That means there's huge inconsistency. How is anyone meant to invest with confidence? Europe's by far leading the charge on responsible investment so anything like this will be another further step for the UK to being a leader in the field. https://lnkd.in/eccnsWxa

4

I was fascinated to read about the top UK impact investors in Financial Times’ list of 100+ impact investors, published in collaboration with The Global Impact Investing Network. I was however sad to see we had not been recognised for our pioneering work over the past decade in this space. With 530 million USD of assets under management on behalf of pension funds, families and other institutions, Milltrust International LLP, a UK FCA authorised firm, created, launched and sold the British Innovation Fund of UK University spinouts to LPPI in 2022. Between 2016 and 2021, we became the largest UK investor in sustainable agriculture, selling the portfolio at the height of COVID after a 21 percent increase in Aussie land prices in 2021 to a major international pension fund. Since 2012, we have managed a sustainable portfolio of equities from across the developing world backing companies driving the ESG agenda with remarkable outcomes and returns for investors. In 2020, we were selected by WWF as the first ever equity manager to run a decarbonisation focused fund, investing across Asia, called Climate Impact Asia which devotes much of its fee income to supporting conservation and biodiversity across the region. Today, our “One Health” portfolio represents a collection of ground breaking science and tech innovation in the realms of human health, food chain innovation, and planetary responsibility. In a tradition of over 80 investments over the past decade, with only one failed investment, where the IP went back to the University, we expect to see a number of new unicorns emerge from this early stage commitment to innovation, in a space where few British firms will offer support. https://lnkd.in/echZ759m

7