Welcome to our Final Newsletter of 2022!
We hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. As we head into 2023, we wanted to share a few last items:
COP15 - Ending the year on a high note:
This month’s COP15 (15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity), chaired by China and hosted by Canada in Montreal, received positive reviews from a
wide range of participants, organizations and commentators. Although there were those who thought important language was missing, some future goals were too vague or execution
remains uncertain, nearly 200 countries adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which featured four goals, 23 targets, and a game changing “30x30” headline
target - conserving 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030. Depending on your interests and available time, here are a few good reads:
-
Carbon Brief’s detailed recounting of negotiations and
outcomes at COP15
-
Romie Goedicke of UNEP FI provides a
“top ten” list
of finance announcements and initiatives
-
This article by the Guardian surfaces some of the
criticisms and perceived shortfalls of COP15
-
Quick read from Bloomberg Green that hits the conference
highlights
(paywall, apologies)
Current opportunities in biodiversity investing:
Awareness of biodiversity’s vital economic role has been steadily increasing, thanks to research and analysis like the World Economic Forum’s estimate that over half of the global
gross domestic product ($44 trillion) is “moderately or highly” dependent on nature and its services. As a result, even before COP15, biodiversity was finding its way into the
policies and practices of many large asset managers. Though this integration process is underway - and will likely accelerate in the wake of COP15 - it’s notable that as of yet
there are relatively few fund investment opportunities that are specifically focused on biodiversity.
On the eve of COP15, Morningstar produced a good review of the biodiversity investing landscape, which you can download
here. It references the initiatives of some of the larger fund managers, and also describes the 14 currently
available biodiversity themed funds totaling $1.6bb (versus 1,100+ climate funds with assets of $350bb). As is the case with sustainable ocean investing, Europe is leading the way
- only 1 of the 14 funds is US based.
Earlier this month MarketWatch/Barron’s also ran a
piece on biodiversity themed funds. They
cited Karner Blue Capital Biodiversity Impact fund (KAIBX) as the top performer year to date at time of writing, although its returns are negative along with the overall markets.
Karner Blue Capital is a woman-led and majority-owned business enterprise, and its biodiversity fund is the only one we know of that has a three year track record and a four star
Morningstar Overall Rating(™).You can learn more about Karner Blue Capital Biodiversity fund
here.
Sustainable ocean funds proliferate in 2022:
During Climate Week we wrote an article about the expansion of sustainable ocean
investment opportunities. One particularly notable 2022 development is the increasing capital raising activities for funds supporting early stage venture and growth companies.
While just a few years ago there were only a couple of such funds, this year brought a variety of new entrants that are tackling the ocean’s biggest problems and opportunities,
with more on the horizon in 2023. These funds are diverse in many ways: they are located in different geographies, they focus on varied sectors of the blue economy and different
stage companies, and some are affiliated with NGOs or research institutions.
There are important “compounding” effects at work here. While first time ocean funds are still relatively small by asset management industry standards, as they have successful
exits, their portfolio companies grow and managers do second and third funds, the capital at work in the sustainable ocean sector will grow at an increasingly faster rate. These
offerings have already begun to attract attention from private wealth management platforms and institutional investors, a good sign that interest in the sector is deepening. We
know of over a dozen funds with a substantial blue economy focus, if you’d like to discuss this landscape with us further please feel free to reach out at
contact@investableoceans.com.
Join a special fact-finding expedition to Greenland and Iceland!
New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize recipient Bret Stephens traveled to Greenland with John Englander of the
Rising Seas Institute in August. You can read Mr. Stephens’ extensive New York Times essay
here, or better yet you can venture to Greenland yourself with John and a
small select group this summer. There are limited spots available, if you’d like to learn more about this exciting opportunity please click on the listing below. This will be the
first of a number of experiential travel opportunities we’ll be bringing to the Investable Oceans community in 2023.
Two new notable books:
We feature below two inspiring books - Sperm Whales: The Gentle Goliaths of the Ocean by Gaelin Rosenwaks and The Remarkable Reefs of Cuba by Dr. David E.
Guggenheim. In addition to sharing a love of the ocean and its inhabitants, Gaelin and David have (at least) two other things in common: they’re both Fellows of The Explorers Club
and are also alumni of Seacamp, a marine science oriented summer program for teenagers in the Florida Keys. (Ted is a Seacamper too, along
with a number of others from the Investable Oceans community).
Check out our calendar:
Lots of conferences and gatherings coming in 2023. We noted some highlights below, and you can see the full listing
here. On January 24th we’re speaking at the
Blue Venture Investment Summit
in Bristol, Rhode Island. We hope to see some of you there!
Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2023. And as always, we thank you for your support.
The Investable Oceans Team
