Julie Blane

Very excited to share my latest piece in Forbes - "Adaptation and resilience in corporate climate agendas" If any of the below resonates, esp. with those working on adaptation + resilience and/or corporate climate + sustainability - our team at Riffle Ventures would love to hear from you! Main idea - climate adaptation and resilience can be an innovation driver for companies and we need to accelerate this agenda. 🏭 Most discussions around corporations and their climate agendas focus on if, how, and how quickly, big businesses are reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, as well as decreasing their own negative externalities on the natural environment. 💰 However, in parallel climate change is creating growing financial, infrastructure, health and other risks that could disrupt large companies, some of which is already happening. While the tools and strategies for decarbonization are fairly well-covered, we are only scratching the surface when it comes to building resilience and adapting to a warming planet. 🈺 Of course, emissions and corporate sustainability targets need urgent attention and commitment, but in parallel we need to make sure companies writ large are adapting to and building resilience against climate risks - e.g. droughts, floods, fires, grid instability and weakening infrastructure - are all a growing reality on a warming planet. 🆘 Corporations, regardless of industry and geography will require support across the board in navigating climate change's most pressing threats. The risk of not doing so could have near-term, material impacts on protecting critical infrastructure as well as access to necessary products and services - food and medicine - and could also negatively impact human's themselves - heat stress, job loss, etc. 🤖 There is a growing technology solution set focusing on climate adaptation and resilience, and we need to bridge the gap between between these climate tech startups and the corporate sector. In turn, corporations can have an enormous impact in helping to scale climate innovations and bolster the surrounding ecosystem. Many thanks to Jackie Roberts for providing time and insight for the article, Dhruv Jesrani for being the design wizard and to Suma Reddy Connie Bowen Abrar Chaudhury Alhan Fakhr Laith Kawar Madeleine Futterman Emmanuelle Palikuca Omar Saif Andrew Chang Hope Petraro Tom K. Deepa Lounsbury for their guidance along the way while we did the research for this, and for Dahna Goldstein for being the connection to Jackie! #ClimateAction #SustainableBusiness #CorporateResponsibility #SustainabilityGoals #ClimateLeadership #CorporateSustainability #SustainableDevelopment #ClimateInnovation #ClimateChangeAdaptation #ResilienceStrategies #SustainableSolutions #ClimateResilience #BuildingResilience #ClimateChangeResponse #AdaptationStrategies

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Great insights from Sophie Purdom and Sightline Climate (CTVC)'s latest analysis on the H1'2024 climate tech funding market. Tough economic conditions have continued to see a stagnation in ClimateTech funding and deal count - there is a sense of cautiousness among corporates, consumers and investors, reflecting broader trends of the venture market. ClimateTech deals are still happening but the challenges faced by companies funded 2-3 years ago (now at Series B+), who are taking longer to de-risk their technology and achieve scalability, have created an environment of heightened investor scrutiny, even at the early-stage. However, there are still positive signs from what I've seen locally: 📈 ClimateTech remains a high priority in Australia, with $344M from 10 deals, including some large rounds, as reported in Cut Through Venture's Q2 2024 Report. https://lnkd.in/g3CK5p2W 🔀 More flexible forms of capital, such as debt, grants, and philanthropy, are becoming more readily available. E.g. Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) received a funding boost in the recent budget. 💫 Growing founder pipeline with ClimateTech communities remaining strong (e.g. Melbourne Climate Network and Climate Salad). I'm keen to hear the insights from the Climate Salad team for their upcoming Aus Climate Tech Industry Report. Sign up for their launch here: https://lnkd.in/gPYsRqZw #climatetech #funding

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A big day for Regenerative Futures Fund today! We now have £4.75m committed from a group of funders - which is absolutely mind blowing. This is new money committed by funders who want to take a system change approach to tackling the roots of poverty, racism and the climate emergency in Edinburgh. The most incredible amount of work has gone into this achievement by so many including my colleagues in each funding org. Lots more about this soon - about what it takes to get to this stage. This is part of the overall £15m 10-year pooled fund. The funding committed by the founding funders is contingent on a contribution (of money plus their time and a commitment to change) by the local authority - City of Edinburgh Council. After an in-principle decision to support this over the long-term was made by Policy & Sustainability Committee in August (plus three papers Jan, May and Aug - and a number of briefings between January and now) today City of Edinburgh Councillors will make a decision on their contribution. Here is the paper - https://t.co/VHJD4c7jWk The webcast will be live from 10.05 today and our item should be discussed around 11am - https://t.co/NKjrZgL8P4

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🌿 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

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COP29.....and they're still looking for answers in the wrong place?? Or maybe they know exactly what they're doing by distracting us from the real issue. The real question! How can we change the business model (without taking away the incentives for innovation) so that it doesn't cause environmental and social harm, without destabilizing the economic system? Without government telling us everything that we can and can't do? "Without bringing more hardship to our lives (inflation, shortages, job loss) in the short term compared to what climate change will eventually bring in the next decade, or less? We're not even asking the right questions? What guardrails do we need to put on our economic system so that incentives for profits and innovation remain while eliminating social and environmental degradation? We need three laws for business. https://lnkd.in/gy4c9tUQ And we need c-suite accountability. More to come on this issue... Ian Kaplan Sandy Trust Mike Clark https://lnkd.in/g8shBe-V

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408 climate experts have signed an open letter to UK political party leaders calling on them to commit to these 5 pledges: 1. Publish and implement a credible and legal strategy for ending the UK’s contribution to climate change by meeting the UK’s statutory Carbon Budgets and its target of net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. 2. Accelerate action across all sectors and all parts of the UK to adapt and become more resilient to those impacts of climate change that cannot now be avoided, in line with UK Climate Change Risk Assessments. 3. Respect and act on all the advice of the expert independent Climate Change Committee, including its warning in its most recent Progress Report that “the UK will continue to need some oil and gas until it reaches Net Zero, but this does not in itself justify the development of new North Sea fields”. 4. Lead by example internationally on climate change, including through the implementation of the decision at COP28 in Dubai in December 2023, and the commitment to “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”. 5. Increase public and private funding and support for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. Without such a pledge, we do not believe that your Party deserves support in the forthcoming General Election. The stakes couldn’t be higher for this next Government. If you’re wondering who to vote for in your area to make your vote count for climate action, register with VoteClimate.uk to receive tailored guidance. #vote #2024election #climateaction

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Who do you know that is starting their journey to understand carbon markets, or better yet taking their first steps to develop a corporate sustainability plan? We're here to help!

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Political debate on #climate in this #election has been framed by the entry of Reform into the fray and Labour's electoral strategy, which understandably doesn't focus on winning over climate enthusiasts already likely to vote Labour. That's a shame given the scale and importance of the climate crisis but Labour's ambitions are perhaps more ambitious than people think. Becca MacSwiney unpicks this and outlines some of the unanswered questions that #Labour will need to address after the election, on everything from the National Wealth Fund to Great British Energy, both of which have huge transformational potential 💡🍃 🌍

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Strategic LPs power Clean Energy Ventures' $305M climate fund: Early-stage climate-tech investor Clean Energy Ventures just closed its second fund on $305 million, a major step-up from its debut $110 million vehicle in 2019 and a sign of confidence for the climate-tech fundraising market. A substantial portion of CEV’s new LP interest hailed from strategic investors looking for exposure to nascent innovations to reduce their carbon footprints, including concrete materials supplier Cemex and United Airlines’ corporate venture arm. “Even though a lot of energy players have their own CVCs, we’ve gotten a lot of interest from strategics,” said Daniel Goldman, a managing partner at CEV. “We want to interact with strategics as we look at new areas of opportunities: share our road mapping, diligence and our pipeline,” he added. Climate investors targeting strategics isn’t a new phenomenon. Strategic LPs like British Land, MGM Resorts and Host Hotels & Resorts joined the LP base of proptech-focused VC Fifth Wall, for example, when the firm raised its first climate-focused fund, which closed on $500 million in 2022. Fifth Wall’s and CEV’s strategic-heavy LP bases fit into an increasingly popular strategy: the consortium fundraising model, in which a firm’s LPs also represent some of the largest clients of its portfolio companies, facilitating distribution deals and information sharing. “This concept of having the largest customers of our portfolio companies as LPs was entirely novel,” Brendan Wallace, co-founder, CEO and CIO of Fifth Wall, said in a 2022 blog post. Climate-tech investors’ ability to target corporate strategic partners across industry verticals has placed them in a favorable fundraising position. The category has proven remarkably resilient to the venture capital reset. Climate-tech startups’ valuations, deal sizes, headcounts and shares of patents filed have all grown faster than their peers in other emerging technology verticals. #investing #economy #cleanenergy #business #venturecapital

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The damage function is one of the inputs to modelling the “social cost of carbon”, a measure policymakers use to gauge whether investments to reduce climate change are worthwhile. Different methodologies produce wildly different answers. In 2022 America’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed revising up its estimate of the social cost of carbon from $51 to $190. Messrs Känzig’s and Bilal’s calculations produce a figure more than five times higher, at $1,056 a ton of carbon-dioxide equivalent. Thus they calculate that it would be worthwhile for America to pursue radical decarbonization even if no other country joined in. #climatechange #climateeconomics #climatetech

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There are so many ways organisations like PWC and their supply chains can help nature. A great way is to support and invest with organisations like Chiltern Rangers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), The Woodland Trust and others to take action in their local areas. Working locally reduces travel and creates a better, more connected landscape. Not only can positive activity sessions like Be a Ranger days help directly e.g. tree planting, river cleans or coppicing in the woods; these days are great for teambuilding, health and well being, giving back to the community and much more. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dmm27gDx What stops your company for booking these sessions and making the difference for people, place and nature??

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Reducing carbon emissions is not a silver bullet -- it's imperative businesses take a fuller, more holistic approach to reducing their overall ecological footprint. Not only will this help biodiversity, it will help accelerate us on the critical journey to detoxify *all* of earth's systems. Valuable insights from Karl Burkart on the challenges and opportunities of reaching nature positive, as well as the compelling concept of an “‘Internal Price on Nature.”

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Not impactful enough to reduce global Carbon emissions goals though. "Carbon removal startup Climeworks struck an agreement with Morgan Stanley for the removal of 40,000 tons of #carbondioxide from the air until 2037, giving the company crucial support to scale up its green technology. By purchasing the removals, the investment bank can claim #credit for the #reductions and use them to #offset its #corporateemissions. One ton of carbon removal may roughly balance out a #few employees’ #journeys on a #transAtlantic flight, according to an official United Nations emissions calculator.  ... Many experts see carbon removal technologies like direct-air capture as an important tool for avoiding the worst impacts of #climatechange. Startups and researchers are also looking at innovations that bury carbon underground and harness the power of the ocean. To make a meaningful impact, these projects will have to scale up rapidly while slashing costs.  Climeworks has promised to dramatically increase its carbon removal capacity with each new plant: Orca has a capacity of 4,000 tons a year, and Mammoth, another site under construction in Iceland, will hit 36,000 tons. Wurzbacher said the Louisiana site is projected to have a capacity of just under 200,000 tons a year, an amount roughly equivalent to 5% of annual #emissions from a #coalfired power plant, according to the #Environmental #Protection #Agency. ... #Carbon makes up about 0.04% concentration in air. Moving enough air through the fans to capture substantial carbon can itself be an #energy-intensive process, said Chris Field, professor at Stanford University who researches carbon removal technologies. “In general, the most important issue with direct-air capture is whether you have access to vast amounts of #emissionsfree #electricity,” Field said."

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In the cover feature from the EOS at Federated Hermes Q1 Public Engagement Report, engagers Michael Benedict Yamoah and Shoa Hirosato weigh up the pros and cons of carbon capture, utilisation and storage, which hard-to-abate sectors are likely to rely on to get to net-zero emissions. #climatechange #stewardship #ESG https://bit.ly/4aVTliA

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Place-based impact investing doesn't have to be complicated, and it's not just for institutions, either. Bristol Energy Cooperative is on its tenth share offer, this time for £1 million to add an additional megawatt to its portfolio of solar projects, raising the money from individual investors through the Triodos Bank crowdfunding platform. The Community Interest Company (CIC) has been operating since 2011, and so far has raised £15 million to fund clean energy projects in the Bristol area, while also delivering £400k to separately fund community projects (their website has maps for both). Investor-members get a vote in one of the UK's oldest and largest community energy cooperatives, plus: - get a financial return - contribute to decarbonising UK's energy - increase the UK's energy security - support local communities Community energy is one of the most effective and accessible ways for citizen investors to get involved in impact investing. #communityenergy #impactinvesting #renewableenergy #placemaking Community Energy England Becky Feather Emma Bridge https://lnkd.in/gy4GYzxX

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I couldn't RESHARE my shared post that Jamie Micah Lawrence shared and commented on - but his challenge is an urgent call to action. Thank you for joining the conversation Jamie! Dear #NBS #NCS funding community, impact investors and DFIs, come on, we can do better than this! Early-stage projects need assistance, now! So your organisation is risk averse? - Risk can be mitigated with a good plan and a deep understanding of the project. So your strategy is restrictive - reach out to understand. NbS projects have multiple impacts, you might be surprised how it does fit. Not the right geography? - our climate & biodiversity crisis isn't so selective. Not the right stage? - then help get it to the right stage. If you don't, who will? To get great, investor-ready NbS projects we need great pipeline. The pioneers need your support just as much (if not more) as the incumbents. Let's stop allowing process and strategy to block our collective progress. Apply great Due Diligence, use it as an enabler not as a blocker. Onwards! #DueDiligence #philanthropy #climate #biodiversity Some background - During the inaugural BIRA accelerator (Biodiversity Investment and Research Accelerator) Xilva led by Jamie and his team ran a deep due diligence on The Kilimanjaro Project - we are happy to report that there were no red flags, but there were definitely some potential red flags and highlighted risks. Through understanding our risks better, we are now better able to share with investors where our gaps and risks are and how their funding can help mitigate these risks. Within 3 months of our due diligence with Xilva we have been able to address a number of the potential risks from building out our dataroom and aligning our documentation, to honing in on our project narrative to align with project intervention, and addressing land tenure issues (to name a few).

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𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 by Samuel Huckstep and Jonathan Beynon Climate finance is falling short of meeting the adaptation needs of those most vulnerable to climate change. What little is provided increasingly comes from existing, and already overstretched, development budgets. Development leaders emphasise their desire to mobilise more private climate finance, but struggle to do so— especially for underfunded adaptation. This is the first challenge. Remittances are already an important and effective source of income for households in climate-vulnerable countries. Many Global North countries rely on migrant labour to fill (often seasonal) labour shortages. However, they make little effort to maximise the potentially very large effects of this labour migration by targeting it towards those who would most benefit. This is the second challenge. In a new paper (https://lnkd.in/gVrkCi5e), the authors set out a proposal that addresses both challenges: incentivise the reorientation of migration opportunities towards communities highly vulnerable to climate change by counting a portion of their remittance flows as mobilised private climate finance. https://lnkd.in/gNfzGNeK

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