Blogs & Ecology

Paying attention to the news lately, you can't avoid hearing about the economy and who needs to be bailed out next. What I haven't seen, though, is a discussion that takes a step back and asks, "What would an economy look like that doesn't need to be bailed out or 'fixed' every x number of years?"

There’s nothing like Green to attract Green. In this case, the just concluded AlwaysOn Going Green 2008 Conference attracted a slew of VC and Biz Dev money looking to invest their portfolios in green tech. The summit as a whole brought together serious money looking for innovative ideas but to say that all the ideas and companies behind them offered true green innovation and philosophies would be somewhat akin to out-and-out greenwashing.

This is a guest post from Kevin Jones, who is a Founder and Principle at Good Capital, and Xigi Media. Xigi (ZIG-ee) is putting on the Social Capital Markets 2008 Conference to bring together all of the people and organizations with a similar deep passion to change the world through sustainable businesses.

The Social Capital Movement Has Begun

For the first time in 30 years an entire quarter went by without a venture-backed company going public, according to numbers released by the National Venture Capital Association this week. The industry group plans to analyze its findings and share its thoughts with the press next week, but in the meantime, analysts and pundits are speculating that everything from the recession to Sarbanes-Oxley rules to the mortgage crisis are to blame.

Edging out 129 institutions across 54 countries, Brazil’s Banco Real was chosen as this year’s Sustainable Bank of the Year by London’s Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Awards were given out to financial institutions operating with triple bottom line principles, incorporating social and environmental aims into their investment portfolios and business practices.

Unprecedented opportunities for capital investments in green companies and technologies exist in a range of global economies. 'Socially Responsible Investment' is monitored and reported on through the Trends Report from the Social Investment Forum biennially and now, the 2008 Spring GreenMoney Journal expands our knowledge about these opportunities and trends.

Shares of alternative energy companies continue to be hard hit given worsening financial and economic conditions but there is strength and support underlying investments in the sector. So says Walter Nasdeo, managing director at Ardour Capital Investments, a pioneer when it comes to alternative energy equity research and investment banking.

The buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts last week announced a new partnership with Environmental Defense to help measure the environmental performance of the dozens of businesses KKR owns, from Toys R Us to the energy giant TXU. The partnership grows out of the collaboration between the two groups last year in brokering a deal for TXU. ED agreed to support the acquisition by KKR of TXU in exchange for KKR and its partner, Texas Pacific Group, agreeing to reduce TXU's carbon emissions and scotch its plans to build new coal-burning power plants.

Generation Investment Management has closed $638Million in initial funding for its Climate Solutions Fund. The company is chaired by former vice president Al Gore and serves to be a leader in investing in sustainable enterprises with a slant toward solving various environmental problems.

According to the Financial Times:

Volatility has increased and share prices of clean energy stocks fell during Q1 2007 as heavy bank losses, weakening economies and ongoing rises in basic commodities took their toll on what’s been a rapid and large-scale flow of capital into the sector, according to an April 1 New Energy Finance media release.

The weak housing market, turmoil in the financial industry, the credit crunch and economic slowdown are hitting renewable energy investment but sizable amounts of capital are still flowing into the sector, according to research published by London-based New Energy Finance this week.

Do you walk the talk when it comes to investing? Maybe you've been waiting to see which stocks make the most green while promoting green. GreenMoneyJournal.com recently released their Sixth Annual Sustainable Business 20 List to help you in your conscious investing decisions. The list details which stocks perform the best on the social/environmental performance scale and includes large, medium, and small companies representing a variety of sectors. So, which firms deserve our money?

The SB20 list includes: