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Climate change app exceeds its public crowdfunding target, reaching £1.35 million

Clim8 Invest app – due to launch this summer- exceeded public crowdfunding target by three times during pre-launch, reaching £1.35m. With over 5,000 people on a waitlist, crowdfunding from 1200 investors, the app focuses on green businesses. According to the multimedia news outlet called The Fintech Times, Clim8 is the world’s first mobile investment app that is focused only on truly green businesses. It is one of the most successful raises on the Crowdcube platform, which was established in 2011.

Sector focuses are for example sustainable good, recycling, clean water or electric mobility. The platform for environmental investments provides an opportunity to invest into work of publicly listed companies that contribute to make an impact tackling climate change.

Mission of the organisation is described in United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from October 2018:

“The word must invest $2.4 trillion in clean energy every year through 2035 and cut the use of coal-fired power to almost nothing by 2050 to avoid catastrophic damage from climate change.”

The app is actively looking for people for want to contribute making an impact, with ambition to build a community of millions who will follow them on their journey. With the app launching in the couple of months, it is hoped that the world’s population will start to realise effects of global warming. According to one of the United Nation reports, we can avoid more direct impacts of climate change by limiting warming to 1.5° C. To solve the issue there must be a collaboration across businesses, communities and governments regionally.

Global warming is expected to have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for the environment. If we don’t limit warming, the sea levels will rise and according to WWF website, they could impact 1 billion people by the year 2050. The change in water temperature will affect coral reefs making them prone to coral bleaching and the Arctic sea ice will reduce. The website also says that heat waves will become more frequent and severe around the world. The plants and animals will lose their habitat and become endangered. The solution can be found in considering the electricity- renewable energy options, transportation- using public transport or food- only buying essentials to reduce the waste.

Duncan Grierson, the Founder and CEO, has 20 years of experience of investing in others as a venture capitalist and won EY Entrepreneur of Year Cleantech award. In the article from 12th of May on the Crowdcube platform, he explains what differentiates Clim8:

“We saw a gap in the market for a “pureplay” offering, focused on the environmental aspect of ESG. We believe that many “ESG” branded funds (Environmental, Social and Governance) are unreliable, for a range of reasons. First, investors have to rely on companies’ own ESG reporting. Secondly, many funds engage in “greenwashing” where the underlying companies are actually not very green. With Clim8, we are focused on the E of ESG, to invest into portfolios of companies that are genuinely making a difference.”

According to the article from 26 September 2019 on Live Science website, activists and politicians said that we have only 12 years to stop climate change. The app allows people to choose in what sector they want to make an impact, ranging from green energy to clean mobility. By choosing different investment themes, people feel more in control over making an impact with their savings. The community of people supporting the idea grows rapidly, with over thousand followers on Instagram and high engagement with the app mission on twitter.

Duncan Grierson in the mentioned article also discusses how Clim8 is going to make money, which would be about charging an annual fee as a % of assets under management. The article also provides expectations and roadmap of the app saying:

“We will launch the Clim8 app this summer, first for those on the waiting list, in controlled batches and then we will make the app available to the wider public. Over the following months we will add SIPPs and other products.”

By Julita Waleskiewicz

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