Investing for net zero. Our climate commitment
Climate action is at the heart of everything we do! Ethex, Lendahand and Energise Africa have worked for nearly a decade with the express purpose of enabling everyday people to put their money directly to work for people and planet.
We strive to enable millions of everyday people to positively invest so we can alleviate poverty, build resilient communities and reduce climate change through people powered affordable finance. We want everyone to invest positively and we facilitate this by making investing easy to understand and do. Through the power of digital technology, we help people solve problems and create opportunities in an equitable and sustainable way.
Our investment platforms have achieved some fantastic results, providing extraordinary organisations with the critical finance they need to develop and scale pioneering climate solutions and accelerate the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Our combined climate impact so far
- Over £150 million invested into extraordinary organisations, pioneering innovative climate solutions in the renewable energy, agriculture, sustainable transport and housing sectors across 28 countries and 5 continents.
- 723,000 tonnes of CO2 mitigated each year thanks to investments made on our platforms
- 30,000 people across the UK and mainland Europe directly investing their money in organisations contributing positively for a better world
- Over 900,000 people in emerging markets supported to access to clean, affordable energy
- Investing in the transition to a green economy by enabling companies to create jobs in renewable energy, sustainable transport, climate smart agriculture and energy efficient housing
This is why we are ramping up our efforts to fight climate change, and sharing these commitments publicly. We will review this statement annually to assess our progress and adjust our trajectory to ensure that we stay on track.
INTEGRATING CLIMATE IN OUR BUSINESS STRATEGIES:
Across our platforms, our business models are built on mobilising retail finance for the SDGs and so climate action is fully integrated into our business strategies. Our focus over the next few years is to rapidly expand and replicate our offerings, accelerating climate solutions by scaling up the amount of people-powered finance we raise.
In 2021/22 we will focus on
- Developing a range of financial products and tools to enable each platform to raise finance for a more diverse range of sustainable and climate focused businesses operating across more sectors and more geographies.
- Ensuring that our existing Environmental Social and Governance screening aligns with international best practice
- Continuing to work with governments, foundations and institutions in innovative ways to make catalytic climate finance more accessible to sustainable businesses
- Providing retail investors across Europe and the UK with a greater choice of transparent, easily accessible and risk-mitigated financial products that enable them to realise the power of their money when it comes to protecting the planet.
DISPLAYING CLIMATE LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCING ACTION IN SOCIETY:
We firmly believe that when people, communities, societies and governments come together in a collaborative way, they can be a significant force for change in rapidly mobilising retail investment to bridge the critical climate finance gap and limit global warming to 1.5°C.
We are already finding innovative ways to blend public and foundation investments with private retail capital to increase finance for climate action and the SDGs. To date, we have managed investments from People’s Postcode LotteryIT, UK aid, Virgin Unite and MCS Charitable Foundation, as well as developing innovative new products with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)SIDA and Good Energies Foundation.
Our combined climate impact so far
- We work with national and local governments across Europe, UK and beyond to share knowledge and build capacity around enabling policies, new business models and innovative approaches to blended finance that can be replicated and scaled to deliver on a 1.5°C climate ambition
- We work with industry groups to ensure that retail finance is seen as an important and critical part of the climate finance landscape, delivering new products which currently aren’t available through traditional financial institutions, and raising awareness of our platforms’ ability to provide people powered finance to help sustainable businesses grow
- We aim to democratise finance by working with industry and civil society to educate people about how they can green their finances
- We work with our partners to support more women and minority groups to get involved in investing, and use their money in ways which align with their climate values
- We work with our funders and partners on campaigns and events to strengthen the call for retail investment to deliver the transformational change needed across the finance sector
- We use our platform to amplify the voices of our investors and investees by inviting them to speak at events, sharing their stories in our media, and supporting representatives from small(er) groups to have a seat at the table when it comes to discussions about climate finance
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
We already work hard to keep our CO2 emissions low
- We rent our UK offices through the Ethical Property Company, and our energy is 100% renewable
- Our company policies encourage team members to use bikes and/or public transport wherever possible, not just in their travel for work, and where we don’t have a choice, we have adopted a policy to offset company flights
We will share the results of this work publicly (on our websites) alongside our strategy for how we plan to meet and exceed wider global targets, by reducing our emissions to achieve net-zero by 2030.
As well as looking at our own CO2 emissions, we will look at emissions across the value chain, and work with our suppliers, and the businesses we support, to identify more ways to reduce emissions.
Where we can’t eliminate emissions in our value chain, we are committed to investing in projects which will offset any residual emissions, and by 2025, we aim to not only make our own investments into such projects, but offer carbon accredited investment opportunities via our platforms too.
We are signatories of the SME Climate Commitment and supporters of the Terra Carta, and in line with these commitments, we will disclose our progress towards net-zero on an annual basis.
EXCITING TIMES FOR CLIMATE FOCUSED RETAIL IMPACT INVESTING:
We believe that our joint commitment to achieving net-zero by 2030 across each of our three platforms will help to drive transformational change across the finance sector. We are empowering people across Europe and the UK to invest their money in line with their climate values and we believe that this movement towards climate positive investing will send a strong message about where people believe their money should go.
Working with our investors and our investees to take action on climate change is not only necessary and achievable, but represents an exciting opportunity for innovation in technology and finance, which will bring significant benefits for us all, contributing to the achievement of all the SDGs, and in particular, help realise more equitable societies around the world.
We hope that you will join us on this journey!
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