Blue Planet and Green Climate funds ramp up investments in the Global Fund for Coral Reefs. Plus, Dutch impact investor network launches foundation, Global Citizen’s new funds, and the UN’s new land use finance impact hub
The UK’s £500 million (€601m) Blue Planet Fund, has invested £3m (€3.6m) in the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR), a blended finance initiative dedicated to protecting coral reefs globally.
As the largest donor to the GFCR, this latest capital commitment from the Blue Planet Fund will be used to support financial solutions and scale innovative business models that increase the resilience of coral reefs and coastal communities.
The Green Climate Fund has also signed a financing agreement with investment manager Pegasus Capital Advisors to become the anchor investor of the GFCR’s investment capital tranche, with a commitment of up to $125m (€115m).
The GFCR has been designed as a 10-year $625 million blended finance vehicle, which combines both grant funding from private foundations and governments, including Germany, France, Canada and the UK, with investment capital. It is currently fundraising for both the grant window and for junior capital commitments to the investment window.
Dutch impact investor network launches foundation
The Co-Financing our Future (CoFoF) peer-to-peer network for impact investors in the Netherlands, has announced it has formalised its commitment to a transition to a circular economy and inclusive society, with the launch of the CoFoF foundation.
CoFoF was initiated in 2019 to provide a forum for impact financiers to share data and investment opportunities and to facilitate collaboration between members, including through the co-financing of investment opportunities.
The launch of the foundation allows the network, which currently has 18 members representing more than €2.5bn in investment capital, to formalise its structure. Under this new structure, the CoFoF will continue to seek investments across all growth phases of a business, from proof of concept and seed funding to early stage and growth.
CoFoF hosts regular events, interactive workshops and presentations as well as ‘dealsharing opportunities’, in which investors call for co-investment in an impact company during a pitch. The launch of the foundation was announced at the organisation’s Spring event in Amsterdam this week, which focused on the challenges and opportunities for recruiting talent to the impact investment sector.
Global Citizen launches six impact funds
Global Citizen, the international advocacy organisation working to end extreme poverty, has announced the launch of six impact funds in the areas of education, equity, food security, health, sustainability, and water.
The Global Citizen Impact Funds will seek to raise a minimum of $25m (€23m), and up to $1bn (€920m), in each of the six areas from the private sector, philanthropic organisations and impact investors.
The funds, which will be structured as outcomes-based funds, with payments from the funds subject to the achievement of pre-agreed societal outcomes, have been launched as a new tool to engage donor partners and investors in support of the organisation’s End Extreme Poverty NOW campaign.
The organisation says the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed 100m more people into extreme poverty and it hopes the funds will help to bridge the $3.5 trillion (€3.2 trillion) investment gap towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The funds will be managed by NPX, a provider of impact finance solutions, who will also vet the organisations for investment by the funds and provide impact reporting. The first investments have already been identified and include, BRAC, charity: water, The Global Fund, International Rescue Committee, and One Acre Fund.
UN launches land use finance impact hub
A new hub allowing financial institutions to measure the positive impact of their land-use investments has been launched this month.
The UN Environment Programme‘s Climate Finance Unit and the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre have developed the Land Use Finance Impact Hub and its Positive Impact Indicators Directory aimed at impact funds and the sustainable investment community.
These initiatives aim to support the rollout of effective industry frameworks to track the environmental and social impacts of land-use investments into areas such as biodiversity conversion, adaptation, mitigation, forest protection and sustainable livelihoods, as well as to attract greater investment into nature-positive activities.
The launch has been described as a response to the call from investors for “guidance and practical solutions to help drive nature-positive land-use investments” and are said to align with the recent publication of the beta version of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) risk-management and disclosure framework, which calls for greater disclosure on nature-related opportunity identification.
