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Sunday, November 6, 2011

Water 2.0 Investment Summit

On November 9, 2011, Toronto, Canada, will host the inaugural Water 2.0 Investment Summit. Water scarcity is a certainty, and investing in the cutting edge technologies that drive sustainable performance is a sure way to see steadily high returns over the next 3-10 years.

The Water 2.0 summit will provide insight and analysis, investment-ready opportunities, breakthroughs in new technology, and unrivaled access to the preeminent network of innovators and investors committed to funding a sustainable future.

The universe of publicly traded water and water-related companies exceeds $2 trillion in market capitalization and the global demand for water is expected to double every 20 years. According to Fortune Magazine, water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th: "the precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations."

During the summit a jury will select 18 early and growth-stage companies with proprietary technologies poised to impact the future of water security. These companies will be given the opportunity to present their business plans to investors. Featured technologies will include innovations in desalination, resource recovery, quality testing, infrastructure improvements, energy, purification, remediation and more

This summit is an extension of the popular Agriculture 2.0 sustainable agriculture investment conference series. Water 2.0 will bring together the preeminent network of investors who know the importance of water investments in the overall portfolio, as well as those who are seeking education in the sector, along with the technologies, companies, and utilities that are working to solve some of the greatest challenges humankind has ever faced.

Hundreds of investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts will take part in a full day of energetic panel discussions, technology presentations, industry roundtables, thought-provoking debates and unrivaled networking to build the international association of individuals who will come together to fund the future of water.

What Water 2.0 Delivers:

An organized forum where entrepreneurs can meet a targeted group of investors who are interested in making a water allocation
A business case for the water economy
Unrivaled networking with the "who's who" in water investment and industry
Opportunities for collaboration among the creators of scalable water tech businesses
Access to the forward-thinking companies that promise to impact the future of water conservation
Intelligent conversations on "investment-ready" opportunities in H20 for venture capital firms, private equity firms, corporations and end investors.
The chance to mix and mingle with the global sustainable investment players attending the Agriculture 2.0 Global Investments conference

Topics To Be Covered Include:

Resource Recovery: Poised for Investment
Opportunities in the sector are expected to grow from $25 billion to $45 billion by 2020. Where do venture capital and private equity firms fit in?
Wet Water as an Asset Class: Who's Buying and Selling?
Veteran investors discuss water restriction challenges and the possibilities created in water rights trading, mitigation, and portability for agriculture, utilities and real estate
Water Scarcity Threats to Industrial Output: What it Means for Investors
Valuations experts and industry executives discuss important red flags such as year-to-year groundwater depth, criticality, dewatering and environmental impact

Featured speakers include:

William S. Brennan, Equity Portfolio Manager, Summit Global Management
Kevin Brophy, Managing Principal, Meidlinger Partners
John Coburn, Managing Director, XPV Capital
Disque Deane, Co-Founder & CIO, Water Asset Management
Matan Friedman, Venture Associate, Israel Cleantech Ventures
Sheeraz Haji, CEO, Cleantech Group
Judson Hill, Managing Director, NGP Global Adaptation Partners
Clay Landry, Managing Director & Principal, West Water Research
Evan Lovell, Partner, Virgin Green Fund
Scott MacDonald, Partner, Emerald Technology Ventures
William Malarkey, Managing Director, Boenning & Scattergood
Alex McIntosh, Founder & CEO, Ecomundi Ventures
Usha Rao-Monari, Global Head, Water, Global Infrastructure and Natural Resources Department, International Finance Corporation
Paul O'Callaghan, Principal, O2 Environmental
Tamin Pechet, CEO, Banyan Water
Walter Schindler, Managing Partner, SAIL Ventures
Seth Terry, Co-Founder, Oberon FMR
Peter Williams, Chief Technology Officer, IBM "Big Green Innovations"

Featured industries will include:

Purification Technologies
Waste-to-Energy
Water Smart Grid
Irrigation
Conservation Technology
Infrastructure Improvements
Resource Recovery
Desalination
Purification
Residential Innovations
Information Technology

The 2.0 conference series has garnered wide-ranging respect from all sides of the sustainable investments industry and is relevant for all members of the community including:

Private equity, hedge fund, and commodities investors
Pension funds, endowments, foundations
Venture capitalists
Pension fund advisors, private wealth managers, asset managers
Family offices, high net-worth individuals, angel investors
Impact investors
End user corporate leaders
Water tech entrepreneurs
Consultants
Utilities industry professionals
Policy makers
Service providers to all of the above

Friday, October 14, 2011

Schools Investing in Green and Creating Sustainable Jobs

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge invites colleges, universities and other nonprofits to invest a total of one billion dollars in self-managed green revolving funds that finance energy efficiency upgrades. The goal is to save energy, and grow money.

The Challenge is inspired by the exceptional performance of existing green revolving funds, which have a median annual return on investment of 32%, as documented by Greening The Bottom Line, a report published by the Sustainable Endowments Institute. This is an extraordinary rate of return in an otherwise bleak economy.

These investment transform energy efficiency upgrades from perceived expenses to high-return investment opportunities. These investments create green jobs in campus communities, while lowering operating costs on college and university campuses.

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge launched publicly on October 11 at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference in Pittsburgh. With more than 2,500 participants, the conference is the largest gathering to date on higher education sustainability.

“The Billion Dollar Green Challenge asks our higher education systems to invest in green revolving funds to support the campus sustainability movement. AASHE supports The Challenge in that these funds will help institutions become more sustainable and will help the higher education community understand the commitment they are making to a just and sustainable future” said Paul Rowland, Executive Director, of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Even before the launch 32 institutions had already joined The Challenge’s Founding Circle by committing to invest a cumulative total of more than $65 million in green revolving funds. In addition to Harvard, Stanford and ASU, other Founding Circle institutions include Caltech, Dartmouth, George Washington, Middlebury, the University of British Columbia, and Weber State University. (See complete list in the appendix.)

Harvard’s Office for Sustainability Director Heather Henriksen said, “The Green Loan Fund has generated high returns on investment, while improving Harvard’s environmental impact and our bottom line.” Endowment investments, operating funds and alumni donations have all been used to establish green revolving funds at institutions across the country.

Guided by a 34-member expert advisory council, The Billion Dollar Green Challenge offers technical assistance, best practices sharing, access to an advanced web-based tool for managing green revolving funds, peer institutions’ project-specific data and invitations to specialized webinars and conferences.

At Stanford, Office of Sustainability Associate Director Fahmida Ahmed said, “Our fund has already financed over 200 small and large efficiency projects on campus, with an average simple payback period of just four years.”

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge has received financial support from the David Rockefeller Fund, HOK, John Merck Fund, Kresge Foundation, Merck Family Fund, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Roy A. Hunt Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership, and the Wallace Global Fund.

Fifteen partner organizations have played a pivotal role in developing and launching The Challenge: American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), Clean Air-Cool Planet, Clinton Climate Initiative, Earth Day Network, National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology, Net Impact National Association of Environmental Law Societies, New England Board of Higher Education, Rocky Mountain Institute, Second Nature, United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Building Green Initiative, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership, and Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.

Click here for more information.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Social Business at Blue Planet Life

Blue Planet Life is a dedicated social business meeting the social goal of lifting life standards of the poor by education and by addressing the world community with issues of humanity and nature to bind people of all directions for one issue: to secure life on planet earth for the future.

The rules of Blue Planet Life's social business are as follows:

Blue Planet Life is driven by a social cause.

Blue Planet Life offers social business participation certificates for investors.

Blue Planet Life pays no dividends.

Investors can get back the amount invested in the company.

The structures and instruments are the same as in a PMB.

Blue Planet Life sells services and becomes self sustaining.

Blue Planet Life recovers full costs.

Any profit (surplus) made stays in the business to finance the development and the

social business to do more good for humanity and nature.

they do it with joy!

Blue Planet Life recognizes the multi- dimensional nature of human beings. We need to recognize the real human being and his or her multi- faceted desires. In order to do that, Blue Planet Life is totally dedicated to solving social and environmental problems. Like other businesses, our employees create goods or services, and provide these to customers for a price consistent with its objective. But its underlying objective—and the criterion by which it should be evaluated—is to create social benefits for those whose lives it touches.

Blue Planet Life is not a charity, nor a NGO, NPO or a CSR concept. It is a business in every sense. It has to recover its full costs while achieving its social objective. Blue Planet Life pursues this goal by charging a price or fee for the products or services it creates. Such a project is self-sustaining and enjoys the potential for almost unlimited growth and expansion. And as the social business grows, so do the benefits it provides to society.

Like any business, Blue Planet Life cannot incur losses indefinitely. Profitability is important to a social business. But any profit it earns does not go to those who invest in it. Rather than being passed on to investors, the surplus generated by the social business is reinvested in the business. Ultimately, it is passed on to the target group of beneficiaries in such forms as lower prices, better service, and greater accessibility.

The business one creates with social business is self-sustaining. There is no need to pump in money every year. It is self-propelling, self-perpetuating, and self-expanding. Once it is set up, it continues to grow on its own. You get more social benefits for your money.

Investors in a social business get their money back. They can reinvest in the same or a different social business or any other business. This way, the same money can bring more benefits.

Blue Planet Life is social business. It has the power and ability to raise living standards and bring about a sustainable change in the behavior of the individual for the benefit of nature and humanity.

It is the nature of a social business not only to address such a social cause but to achieve the goals with the possibilities of a PMB, pay back investments and do it with joy and happiness.

Click here for more information. Click here to contact Blue Planet Life.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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