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The global celebration of Earth Day is a good reminder that addressing climate change means embracing innovation through small changes and big bets. At the individual level, the traditional tree planting and sustainable shopping also includes newer strategies, like investing $100 in a green startup via equity crowdfunding.
For investors, this means keeping capital flowing to climate resilience projects and scaling proven or promising energy solutions, like wind and solar — and investing in completely new concepts. One example: carbon capture technology to remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere. Impact investors, like the ones backing a $935 million collaborative effort dubbed Frontier or Lowercarbon Capital’s new $350 million fund, are uniquely positioned to fund the trial-and-error innovation that comes with inventing brand-new mechanisms.
Whether you’re one person or a huge fund, creativity matters. We hope you find your own ways to make small changes and big bets on this year’s Earth Day.
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As she built her career in finance, Megan Ruan was often the only woman of color in the room — and one of a small number of Asian Americans in the field outside of technical roles. In 2019, she co-founded an accelerator program for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) entrepreneurs as part of the nonprofit Gold Rusnh. This week, her work formally expanded into venture capital with the launch of Gold Rush Ventures. The $30 million fund, of which Ruan is a general partner, will invest in AAPI-led startups, particularly those led by AAPI women and entrepreneurs outside of East Asia.
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Sustainable Golden Arches
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| Arcos Dorados Holdings — the largest McDonald’s franchisee in the world, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean — is issuing its first-ever bonds tied to the company's goals for reducing carbon emissions across its supply chain. Sales of sustainability-linked bonds like these are expected to total $235 billion by the end of 2022. |
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Impactful Impact Reports
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| How can reports on impact performance actually make an impact? A new report from Bluemark outlines the ways that investors can generate reports that are more useful to changemakers. |
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| INCLUSIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
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More Women in Construction
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| Could we see more female founders donning hard hats? When a development project in San Francisco revealed just how few women were in any of the building professions, the city launched an innovative training program to grow their ranks. |
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A Sweeter Round
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| At $7.84 million, Sweeten founder Jean Brownhill’s first institutional funding round was one of the largest raises ever by a Black female founder. In an interview with Inc., she shared the leadership lessons she learned from the experience. |
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A Contential Exception
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| Africa’s tech scene is bucking a global trend: tech startups across the continent are raising capital at exciting rates amid declines in funding in the West. TechCrunch looks at why. |
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Fighting Fintech Fraud
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| As fintech grows, so do risks for fraudulent activity — but a growing number of entrepreneurs are addressing the issue head-on. |
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