Green & Ethical Investment News and Suggestions

Coastalwatch

Coastalwatch said:

Guess we shall have to see how Boris's "Oven ready Brexit deal" pans out in the coming weeks before any degree of sustained confidence returns!

Don't know about confidence returning yet but our ISA reached an all time high this week and is now showing almost an 9% return.

The Green Energy Storage fund finished 12% up so still 3% ahead on share price. With a final dividend increment arriving late December taking total dividends to date of 8% then it's showing a healthy double digit lead over our professionally run ISA.

Have to confess to being alarmed this week when learning that the Financial institution, which runs the fund our ISA is invested in, has expressed an interest in investing in Sizewell C.

Time for a sharp exit then!

Coastalwatch

When it comes to investing in Renewable energy sources then for those of an adventurous nature beyond Wind and Solar then QED Naval are raising funding on the Seedrs platform to support their various underwater projects. For sure there is huge potential in tapping underwater currents globally and with twelve years experience behind them appear well positioned to take advantage of it especially with generation costs already competitive with diesel in remote locations.

By no means a recommendation but when it comes to energy generation then anything of a clean and renewable source attracts my attention.

Martyn1981

Just had an e-mail from Abundance to inform on upcoming investments.
These aren't open yet, and this isn't a recommendation, just thought it might be of interest:

Investments launching soon
                Help make energy storage for businesses a reality
We are working with a company that wants to put batteries and renewables on site within businesses such as data centres (and also access to energy reduction measures) to help them to deliver Net Zero. This long term (up to 15 year) investment will aim to fund these initiatives for up to 4 businesses.
 
               Fund the electric revolution on our roads
We are working with a company that is rolling out both ‘fast’ and ‘rapid’ EV charging facilities. This 5 year investment will fund the rollout of new charging points on high traffic sites chosen in partnership with local authorities.
 
               Long term refinance of Orbital’s tidal investment
In 2019, over 2,400 of our customers invested £7 million to fund Orbital’s innovative tidal turbine for installation in Orkney. With this investment due to mature in June 2021, Orbital is looking to refinance this initial early stage investment with a new long term (10 year +) offer on Abundance, giving investors the chance to support the company on the next stage of its development.
 
               Invest to build new, lower carbon, social housing
We continue to work with Octevo – who have funded 4 previous housing investments on Abundance – and we expect to launch a new investment to back two more developments on a similar basis as previous offers soon. As before, we expect to be working with Warrington Borough Council as part of the funding package.
 
               Help us grow lower carbon food, closer to home
We are working with a number of companies who are transforming how we grow our food. Exciting new technologies like hydroponics and innovations in controlled environment agriculture offer ways to grow food closer to home, tackling the significant land and carbon impact of how we feed ourselves. There are three investments in the pipeline that we expect to launch in the coming months.

Coastalwatch

Bristol Energy Cooperative have secured important grant funding from the European Regional Development Fund to accompany their £1.5m Community share offer raise. They seek the final 20% to enable all projects to go ahead. The investment is in withdrawable £1 shares and projected to return 3.5% per annum for those seeking to support such a scheme.

Bristol Energy Cooperative sign ERDF Grant Funding Agreement for the Bristol Community Hydro Scheme at Netham Weir and reach 80% of their target funding.

"project developer Will appeared on BBC Points West recently, filming from Netham Weir (see clip on Facebook) and we will shortly be releasing a short film about our microgrid at community housing development Water Lilies."

https://mailchi.mp/862cd067269a/bristol-energy-cooperative-update-vacancies-and-webinars?e=bd19c4dea0

Coastalwatch

Having taken on significant funding from Pensions investor National Savings Investment Trust, NEST, Octopus report on their first years performance. Part of the Octopus group which includes Octopus Energy there appears considerable interest from pension funds in the Renewables sector!

Octopus Renewables looks to further growth after strong first year results

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) has hailed the success of its inaugural year with a gross asset value of £441 million from 24 assets.

In its first full year results, the company highlighted that 100% of the net proceeds from its Initial Public Offering (IPO) have now been committed, with successful acquisitions including eight UK solar assets for a cash consideration of £144.3 million.

Alongside its UK solar assets, ORIT also has onshore wind and solar sites in Sweden, France and Spain, with its net asset value (NAV) now coming in at £344 million or 98.3p as at 31 December 2020. This represents a total NAV return of 2.4% over the last year, and a total shareholder return of 15.9% for the company’s first year.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/octopus_renewables_looks_to_further_growth_after_strong_first_year_results

Coastalwatch

ENERGISE AFRICA!

Have confess that when I first came across the chance of investing in a similar scheme some six months or so ago I barely gave it consideration, given the inherent risks in such a politically sensitive and unstable area of Africa. But, when I came across a crowdfunding initiative hosted by Ethex today it rather made me think again.

Not that the risks are any less, it's just that the prospect of introducing clean electricity to households and replacing Kerosene lamps as the only source of illumination was something I just couldn't ignore. It would seem 87% of households in the Congo are without electricity of any kind so the market is considerable, but more importantly, if the majority of the population can be introduced to clean leccy as opposed to the unhealthy option of burning FF's indoors for illumination then what more good could anyone wish to achieve!

By coincidence having today received my share from the sale of a FF burning mode of transport then what better use could I put some of the proceeds to!

Help families replace toxic kerosene with clean, affordable solar electricity to power their homes.

https://www.energiseafrica.com/

NigeWick

Coastalwatch said:

ENERGISE AFRICA!

I put about £3,000 in a couple of years ago and reinvested some as repayments started.

Coastalwatch

NigeWick said:

Coastalwatch said:

ENERGISE AFRICA!

I put about £3,000 in a couple of years ago and reinvested some as repayments started.

Thanks for posting NW, always good to learn of previous experience of others when testing unchartered territory.

Coastalwatch

Wasn't sure where, or even whether, to post the article below but found it surprising that the head of such a huge financial corporation in the US should state views so closely akin to those of my own when it comes to the growing problems facing the USA in the years ahead. While it is conceivable to think he might hold these privately I was staggered to actually read in print that  announced for the whole world to view. While I believe he should be congratulated for being so open upon the matter I do wonder if he will still be in place to produce another Shareholder letter come next year.

I for one, jolly well hope so!

JP Morgan boss plans for 'significantly' less office space

The bank is expected to need just 60 seats per 100 people, boss Jamie Dimon wrote in his annual shareholder letter.

He also warned that the bank is likely to move people out of London and to Europe due to Brexit.

'Fraying American Dream'

At the same time, he said the US was in need of major changes to address its widening income inequality, which he blamed for driving populist political movements on the left and right.

He called for raising the minimum wage, increasing taxes on the wealthy and eliminating tax breaks that benefit private equity firms, race cars and private jets.

The US should also invest in "modernising" the country's infrastructure and introduce a carbon tax to help tackle climate change, he said.

"Many of our citizens are unsettled, and the fault line for all this discord is a fraying American dream - the enormous wealth of our country is accruing to the very few. In other words, the fault line is inequality," he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56666000

Coastalwatch

FTSE made positive progress this week finishing at 6915, the closest it's been to the 7k mark since the crash last year. Thankfully our ISA followed the trend also showing close to a ten percent increase for its duration. So approx 2.5% per annum, which coincidentally, was the favourite figure our maths teacher used to come up with when setting simple and compound interest questions back in the early sixties. Strange how some seemingly insignificant facts stay etched in the memory bank.

Green Energy Storage fund has prospered also finishing 14% up.

With utility investments considered safe havens at times of financial turmoil but outpaced when it comes to long term growth the GESF appears to be bucking the trend for now.

Early days as yet I guess!