Climate & environment

Sofinnova Partners, a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, has raised €150mn for its early-stage environmental impact fund.

After years of negotiations, a deal on the rules governing global trading in carbon offsets was reached at COP26. Barbara Baarsma, CEO of Rabo Carbon Bank, expects a strong surge in demand for high-quality carbon credits.

To scale carbon trading the Voluntary Carbon Market will have to become more transparent, providing investors with clearer means for evaluating investment opportunities.

The debt-for-nature swap (DNS) formally announced by Belize and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) during the COP26 climate change meeting in Glasgow could trigger a resurgence of the financial instrument.

Britain’s Prince Charles called it “the last chance saloon,” for our planet, while UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned world leaders at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow the “doomsday clock is still ticking.”

In the week of COP26, Amal-Lee Amin, Senior Advisor to the UK presidency of COP26 and Director of Climate Strategy at UK development bank CDC, shares her insights with us.

Voluntary carbon markets can help to achieve more ambitious climate mitigation commitments, says a new report, as well as significantly scaled-up flows of finance to developing countries. Will negotiators at COP26 take notice?

Deforestation, forest degradation and unsustainable land use make up roughly a quarter of the world’s CO2 emissions. WWF’s issue lead for forests and climate at the upcoming UN climate conference is calling all hands on deck.

One of the key players in the inter-governmental dialogues ahead of COP26 is renowned impact investor Stephen Brenninkmeijer. He illuminates the background to the UN climate conference and his vision for impact investing.

Green bonds are very popular, while only a handful of blue bonds were issued in recent years. But that might be changing.