SPACs, Impact Investing Returns and Green Recovery
Here are 5 things you might have missed this week:
Special-Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) are becoming increasingly popular to fund sustainable enterprises-
McKinsey analyzed the performance of recent SPACs—a mixed track record—and found that SPACs that are led or co-led by operators, rather than solely by investors, tend to outperform throughout the deal cycle.
As of August 2020, SPACs that were actively seeking business combinations held about $60 billion of capital (across more than 100 SPACs) and made up 81 out of 111 US IPOs.
"Done well, SPACs combine the best of private and public ownership: the superior rigor of PE-style governance and the lower capital costs of public firms."
Impact investing returns in emerging market and developing economies-
An examination of every equity investment made by the IFC, one of the largest and longest-operating impact investors across 130 emerging market and developing economies, shows its portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 by 15 percent.
Source: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/34383
Global banks and insurance companies move closer to climate targets for loans and investments-
Fifty-five firms including HSBC Holdings Plc, Societe Generale SA, BNP Paribas SA and others committed to the Science Based Targets initiative.
The SBTi is a consortium that developed a framework to help companies figure out how they should change their operations to align with the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-other-banks-set-climate-185717734.html
U.N. Biodiversity Summit-
This week’s U.N. Biodiversity Summit discussed a wide range of topics from the 30x30 pledge (to double the Earth’s protected land and water to 30% by 2030) to create a Paris-style agreement focused on biodiversity.
Find a summary of the event at: https://www.un.org/pga/75/united-nations-summit-on-biodiversity/ & https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/news/unep-un-general-assembly-highlights
Financial innovations to drive climate action and a green recovery-
The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (the Lab) launched eight innovative financial solutions to drive private resources to climate action.
"After a thorough process of analysis, development and stress-testing, these solutions are ready to provide investment opportunities for a post-COVID, green economic recovery."
The Lab is an initiative of over 60 public and private investors and institutions to accelerate investment solutions to support sustainable development goals in emerging markets.
Source: https://www.climatefinancelab.org/news/lab-endorsement-2020/
One more thing: Our Planet: Too Big to Fail. This 42-minute film explores the risks of inaction, the impact of investing-as-usual, and the role the finance sector can play in powering a sustainable future.
Watch the video here- https://www.ourplanet.com/en/video/our-planet-too-big-to-fail/
Do share your comments or the content you think our community should not miss!