We founded Raise Green to make community-scale climate projects happen, plain and simple. And now, we are excited to announce that we are making that vision even more accessible by offering development capital for clean energy entrepreneurs. 
 
We’ve worked with over 100 potential project developers, ranging from total newbies to experienced developers. We also developed two inclusively financed community-scale solar projects ourselves under the entity of New Haven Community Solar. So we know, starting a solar project and bringing it past the create stage to the build, fund, and run stages is not as easy as it should be. We provide [extensive resources](https://www.raisegreen.com/originator-program) to project developers (we call them Originators) so they can navigate this process, but barriers still exist to moving projects forward. One of the most common barriers to developing a solar project is a lack of access to capital. 
 
An Originator may need funds to scope project sites, pay for an interconnection study, pull permits, cover staff time worked, or pay external partners to secure site control for their system. By receiving development capital funds from crowd investors like you, the project creation phase is made more accessible for Originators and in turn increases the likelihood of projects listed on our [investor marketplace](https://marketplace.raisegreen.com/offers/offersList) upon a later date.
 
Targeted financial incentives like access to development capital helps the community by lowering the barriers to entry for new project developers, and making the project creation phase more accessible and inclusive. In turn, this access to capital for underserved and disadvantaged populations increases the probability of projects being implemented on the ground for communities in need. Experts at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [found](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6733124104431386624) that these types of incentives can be catalytic to accelerating solar adoption for the underserved. That means more community Originators working with Raise Green, more climate action projects for the planet, and more opportunities for investors. 

For investors, it not only means more investment opportunities, it includes the diversification of investment types on our marketplace. Whereas solar projects tend to have equity offerings that have a contractual cash flow delivered over a period of 10-20 years, development capital investments are typically structured around a shorter maturity period, (e.g., 1-2 years), with a fixed interest coupon paid back along with the initial investment when the project gets built or at maturity. 

If you are an experienced solar developer in need of up to a million in development capital to move your next project forward, or an aspiring Originator creating your own green job who has been waiting for an opportunity to fast-track your project development work with funding, get in contact with us and we would be happy help get your project up, funded and running. If you are an investor looking to get into climate tech, sustainable finance and support community economic development to accelerate the equitable transition to a clean energy economy, [create an investor account](https://marketplace.raisegreen.com/home/register) for free and keep an eye out for investments coming soon. 

As always, feel free to engage us in conversation and send any questions or comments you might have to info@raisegreen.com.

To get the most up-to-date information on Raise Green content, please [sign up for our email list](http://eepurl.com/dFst3T) and follow any of our social accounts ([Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/raisegreeninc/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RaiseGreenInc), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/RaiseGreenInc/), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/raisegreen/)). 


Raise capital to develop your solar project, invest in clean energy entrepreneurs 

Episode #4 of the Raise Green podcast series features Joel Solomon, an esteemed expert in impact investing! Joel is a founding partner at Renewal Funds, Canada’s largest mission-oriented venture capital fund, with over 20 years in the industry. Joel joins co-founders Franz Hochstrasser and Matt Moroney. “Raise Green” is a 7 episode podcast series exploring the climate crises through the minds of local leaders and global experts. Listen to the approximately 30 minute Episode #4 [here on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0gWz7vONjQJjT8UmiNe1Kc).

We embrace the term “impact investing” for funding that generates positive social and environmental outcomes. For a while, these investments weren’t taken seriously, since the dominant paradigm has been to maximize returns regardless of the cost. But as social and environmental problems have become increasingly apparent, and as existing impact investments have proven their financial viability, and in [many cases their superior financial performance](https://www.putnam.com/literature/pdf/ESG001_RE-0e702a5eed2e0f8679bede5d43704f46.pdf), its popularity has grown at a promising rate.

There was $20.9 billion of sustainable investing during the first half of 2020, which is comparable to the rate in 2019. Even more impressively, the 2019 investment flow was four times the previous record. This steady growth, in spite of an administration that [actively undermines it](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/laws-and-regulations/rules-and-regulations/public-comments/1210-AB95), represents a shift in heart and mind for investors. That is to say, people increasingly want their investments to be affiliated with less harm and more good.

Joel describes how it has taken a couple decades for this mindset to come to prominence, but now it’s an unstoppable concept. What started as a marginalized “burr in the sock” for the incumbent system has the increasing potential to erode the status quo. Even the biggest players in the industry have to adapt to emerging trends.

Franz points out that, [by all indications](https://www.morganstanley.com/pub/content/dam/msdotcom/ideas/sustainable-signals/pdf/Sustainable_Signals_Whitepaper.pdf), the emerging generation of millennial investors will continue to accelerate this trend. In turn, there’s the potential to shift the future of capital deployment and how it’s allocated around the world. This poses an opportunity to re-establish standards and accountability, after the era of “the only goal of money is to make more money.” Joel imagines an enlightenment of sorts, where we foster a period of financial innovation by re-thinking money and its uses.

Raise Green is one of the companies that’s striving to catalyze this shift in consciousness, and Matt believes we’re close to that turnover period. Private-sector businesses and finance can be a tremendously powerful force for improving both communities and the planet, and the role of the small players is to continue demonstrating and reinforcing this trend. As momentum builds, larger firms will be obligated to understand and follow, and as pressure mounts, they might even realize that being on the front end of the trend would be beneficial to them.

With compounding economic, pandemic, social justice, and climate crises, we’re in a period where people feel the need to act, which is why impact investing is being taken more seriously. In the past, regulators have expressed skepticism about ESG labels, which is the metric that’s supposed to assure that the funds go towards benevolent purposes. Legislating good and bad is surely subjective, and Joel admits it’s a dynamic issue. It’s more about overall direction, which divides into measurable and subjective components.

Within his own firm, Joel ensures that his portfolios have enough examples that are simple enough for people to understand and approve of. These are funds that are measurably beneficial by standards and qualities we can all agree on, such as cleaning up pollution. This in turn builds their investors’ trust when the firm handles more subjective, complicated cases that aren’t as easily quantified. 

In a way it’s an art form, where standards and agreeable qualities are established, and then subjective creativity delivers unique outcomes from there.

Matt has always believed that blending art and science achieves the best possible outcomes. Relying on one perspective misses other important pieces. Joel agrees, seeking to provide an overall model, based on integrity, honesty, self-reflection, and being eager for challenges and improvement. These are noticeably human qualities, and they provide an important parallel: finance and the economy aren’t an abstract thing, they’re about people. By humanizing investments, we can improve their character in the same way we might to do ourselves.

You can find the “Raise Green” Podcast on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1jJS3POiHxhYb7NJZwr2q2), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/raise-green/id1529894700), and [Soundcloud](https://soundcloud.com/user-353076924) streaming services. Be sure to check us out!

Have any questions you want us to ask, or a guest you would like to be featured on the podcast? Email us at info@raisegreen.com. To get the most up-to-date information on Raise Green content, please sign up for our [email list](http://eepurl.com/dFst3T) and follow any of our social accounts ([Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/raisegreeninc/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RaiseGreenInc), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/RaiseGreenInc/), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/raisegreen/)).

If you’re interested in making an impact investment now, check out our Raise Green [Investor Marketplace](https://marketplace.raisegreen.com/offers/offersList).



Raise Green Podcast Episode #4: What is Impact Investing? 

Our podcast series continues! 

Raise Green’s second podcast episode is an extended double with Sue Biniaz, lead climate lawyer in the US State Department for more than 25 years. She played a central role in all major climate negotiations during that time, including the Paris Agreement. 

Sue joins co-founders Franz Hochstrasser and Matt Moroney. “Raise Green” is a 7 episode podcast series exploring the climate crises through the minds of local leaders and global experts. **Listen to the approximately 20 minute Episode #2 [here on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0upJYLQV6bNmfDj5K5hlSY?si=Ilb7oCUJRCetowpVgwfYDA). Episode #3 is a continuation of the interview, and can be found [here on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/09HHWEaUl8EZ8k88N9PLwu).**

We begin with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which Sue helped develop at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The UNFCCC sets the framework for how nations have approached climate issues for the past 28 years and counting. The negotiation to arrive at the UNFCCC involved many of the same issues that continue to arise in international climate discussions today, with this conversation focusing on differentiation and bindingness. 

Bindingness: Are policy commitments legally binding?
Differentiation: Should all countries have the same commitments? 

For example, the Kyoto Protocol (1997) defined legally-binding caps on greenhouse gas emissions for developed countries, but the US didn’t ratify, so it only ever accounted for a third of global emissions. Part of the reason was that countries were differentiated into two different Annexes of the Convention, classifications that have been contested ever since. That was until the Paris Agreement outlined a framework that lets each country set its own target, and their chief binding commitment was to continually report on progress and update the targets every five years. 

Frameworks before that had attempted to recognize more nuances with countries’ categorization. To name a few, there are oil-producing countries, tiny island nations, and countries going through dramatic economic transitions (e.g. countries affected by the collapse of the USSR). 

This highlights the complexities of climate policy negotiation, a subject which Sue Biniaz is all too familiar with. She shared four tips for negotiation which we’ve summarized below:

1) Preparation. There are multiple ways to represent your own position, and knowing other parties’ positions can help you effectively present to them. Consider different ways to reflect the same substance.
2) Ask a lot of questions. Related to Tip #1, clarifying other parties’ positions can help you address the same substance with different wording. 
3) Be clear and concise. Long rambling proposals can lose people’s attention. Short, simple lists can go a long way. 
4) Explain why the proposal is in the other party’s interest, rather than simply dictating your position.

Sue is still active in the negotiations as a Senior Fellow at the UN Foundation and has been teaching courses on international climate negotiations at various law schools. Franz took the opportunity to inquire about the current state of the Paris Agreement:

A new US administration could easily re-join the Paris Agreement, but it would have to design an emissions target within 30 days, as each country decides its own NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution)This would create a delicate balance for the new administration: substantial commitments to regain credibility, versus domestic backlash in response to ambitious policies. Franz points out that the COVID-19 pandemic has added even another layer to that dynamic. It has delayed the next UN Climate Conference (COP26) by a year, which will be the first global stocktake for countries’ NDCs. Sue highlights that this may be a blessing in disguise, since many countries weren’t on-track to reach their NDCs this year, and it also gives the US a chance to regain its footing with a new president.

COVID-19 has understandably shifted countries’ focus for the time being, but countries can still work towards their NDCs by “building back better,” ensuring that stimulus packages aren’t going back to business as usual.

Despite what it may seem, Sue reminds us that only a fraction of the world is trying to devalue the science around climate change. We all have a duty to continue pursuing a fact-based approach to problem solving, insisting on even our own accuracy.

With that, there’s reason for optimism, as countries like China are still pushing towards ambitious targets for climate policy. Domestic momentum on climate action is also picking up: companies, cities, and other non-state actors are continuing to improve their ambition, invest in green and scale down brown. 

This is the role Raise Green plays: empowering local communities to improve their infrastructure and tackle climate change. Many of the challenges are persistent, but Sue reminds us of our ability to make a difference. Whether in negotiations or neighborhoods, working together creatively is the way to get it done.

You can find the “Raise Green” Podcast on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SoCbMDNAj0GT4FSc7RqXt?si=1UQ0JK6_R_aLGgtVCj97jg), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/raise-green/id1529894700), and [Soundcloud](https://soundcloud.com/user-353076924) streaming services. Be sure to check us out!

Have any questions you want us to ask, or a guest you would like to be featured on the podcast? Email us at [info@raisegreen.com](mailto:info@raisegreen.com). To get the most up-to-date information on Raise Green content, please sign up for our email [list](http://eepurl.com/dFst3T) and follow any of our social accounts ([Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/raisegreeninc/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RaiseGreenInc), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/RaiseGreenInc/), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/raisegreen/)). 


Raise Green Podcast Episode #2: What is Climate Policy? 

We’re live! 

Do you wonder if sustainability is achievable or even enough, do we need renewal, or regeneration, do we need circularity? How do we make that happen? 

We recently launched the official “Raise Green” podcast, hosted by Co-Founders Franz Hochstrasser and Matt Moroney - exploring the climate crisis through the minds of local leaders and global experts. Our podcast revolves around short, accessible conversations that share new ways of working together via personal stories about creating a healthy, just, and sustainable future. [Listen to the approximately 20 minute Episode #1 here on Spotify:](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SoCbMDNAj0GT4FSc7RqXt?si=1UQ0JK6_R_aLGgtVCj97jg )

Episode #1 features Eva Gladek, Founder and CEO of a sustainability focused consulting and venture-building company called Metabolic in Amsterdam, Netherlands. They literally build ventures to remake the economy. One of her first projects with Metabolic was De Ceuvel, a cafe and city playground for innovation, experimentation and creativity that makes sustainability tangible, accessible and fun. 

This award-winning, sustainable planned workplace for creative and social enterprises on a remediated former shipyard in Amsterdam demonstrates the potential economic opportunities can be built with a bit of creativity and perseverance. 

**Building on these ideas, Metabolic has built circularity plans for cities, provinces, and private enterprises in agriculture, banking, building, chemicals, and textiles. Check out their recent work in the U.S. cities of Charlotte and Boulder.**

**Between this September day in 2020, and 2030 what will you build?
**

Eva and her band of changemakers at Metabolic are dedicated to creating a beneficial and  equitable society through systems transformation, circular economy, and sustainable design. She is consistently listed among the top influencers in sustainability in The Netherlands, a country recognized as leading the transition to a circular economy. We talk to Eva about:

1) How the circular economy is different from sustainability in general?

2) Is everything a resource?

3) How popular is the topic of circular economy in Europe, and why has it not caught on in the United States? 

4) How might a country like the Netherlands continue to improve on the topic of circular economy? 

The show goes on next week as we welcome the next of our several guests soon to be featured on the “Raise Green” podcast. Episode #2 is with the inimitable and legendary Sue Biniaz, a former lead climate lawyer for the U.S. State Department where she played a central role in the negotiation of nearly every major climate agreement to date, including the Paris Agreement. 

You can find the “Raise Green” Podcast  on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SoCbMDNAj0GT4FSc7RqXt?si=1UQ0JK6_R_aLGgtVCj97jg), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/raise-green/id1529894700), and [Soundcloud](https://soundcloud.com/user-353076924/evagladek) streaming services. Be sure to check us out!

Have any questions you want us to ask, or a guest you would like to be featured on the podcast? Email us at [info@raisegreen.com](mailto:null). To get the most up-to-date information on Raise Green content, please sign up for our [email list](http://eepurl.com/dFst3T) and follow any of our social accounts ([Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/raisegreeninc/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RaiseGreenInc), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/RaiseGreenInc/), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/raisegreen/)). 


Raise Green Podcast Episode #1: What is the Circular Economy? 

# Raise Green Comments on the SEC’s Proposed Changes to Crowdinvesting Rules

Whether it’s an ominous orange sky in the middle of the day, climate fires ravaging communities, increased likelihood of contagion, asthma and morbidity from air pollution, or the destructive derechos, hurricanes, floods and other disastrous weather-events hitting neighborhoods across the country, *we’re experiencing climate change everyday*. These are sobering reminders that **time is of the essence** to make the shift to a clean energy economy. That’s why we need everyone involved in creating and financing the sustainable infrastructure needed for a climate-safe and resilient future.

Raise Green is a category-defining [marketplace](https://marketplace.raisegreen.com/offers/offersList) dedicated to bringing verifiable impact investment opportunities to everyone, and empowering communities to create and finance climate action projects. That unique blend of assistance and access is currently missing in the clean energy finance world, and it relies on specific rules regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Earlier this year the SEC proposed some big changes to their rule aimed at “[Facilitating Capital Formation and Expanding Investment Opportunities by Improving Access to Capital in Private Markets](https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-05-20/s70520.htm)".

The SEC’s rulemaking process invited comments on this proposed rule, and Raise Green took the opportunity to provide detailed comments in a joint letter with New Haven Community Solar (NHCS): https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-05-20/s70520-7261538-217666.pdf. 
Raise Green and NHCS are both founded, designed and mission-driven with a core intention of amplifying marginalized voices and empowering everyone to be part of creating a more healthy, just and sustainable world. This rule-making offers a tremendous opportunity to expand inclusive finance through crowdfunding. 

We throw that word around a lot, ‘crowdfunding’, but it took several years for crowdfunding platforms like ours to become available to everyday investors like you, and even longer for ‘crowdfunding’ to become a common noun known to the general public. Crowdfunding is a catch-all for a few different types of crowdfunding, but most of it is donation-based crowdfunding like Kickstarter where you donate, and may or may not get something back. 

Equity crowdfunding (or what we refer to as ‘crowdinvesting’) is the actual sale of private securities (stock or debt that is not available on a public exchange like the NYSE or NASDAQ). When an Originator sells securities, their company is bound by law to use the funds for what they said, and to pay investors back (plus profit!) as promised, if their project is successful. Now more than 500k Americans have made a crowdinvestment since 2016 (Crowdfund Capital Advisors, 2020). 

Even though crowdinvesting became legal after the JOBS Act passed in 2012, it wasn’t fully allowed in the U.S. until the SEC finalized regulations in 2016. With Reg CF, Reg A and other exempt offerings, private equity investing is now more accessible and transparent for accredited and non-accredited investors. But recent analysis from the SEC has found significant barriers to widespread adoption. Now the SEC has kicked off the process of revising exempt security offering rules, and Raise Green is pleased to help make comments that can help make more wealth building opportunities for impact investors at the community-scale and accelerate the clear energy transition. 

# Our 3 favorite proposed changes to Regulation Crowdfunding, and how they can benefit investors, Originators, and the fight against climate change: 

**1: Increase of the maximum raise (i.e. offering amount) per company to $5 Million or more **

Currently, there is an investment limit of $1.07 million per company per year for crowdfunding raises. Increasing this limit would allow for an overall increase in capital raised, while simultaneously allowing for crowd investors to invest in and benefit from ownership of larger climate action projects (e.g. lower cost estimates and higher value creation efficiency). This would mean that Raise Green could inclusively finance projects that are several megawatts in capacity, which can be more profitable and have a greater impact than smaller projects due to economies of scale.

**2: Removal of the investment limit for accredited investors and increased transparency of investment limits for non-accredited investors**

This will not only allow for a greater influx of capital towards projects from accredited investors, but also help bypass the issues currently accompanying the calculation of investment limits for non-accredited investors. Such limits are driven from self-attestation of net worth, a process that is inherently difficult for most of the general public to calculate. By removing the accredited investor limit Raise Green projects can take larger investments from family offices, donor-advised funds, and other accredited and institutional investors which means more and larger projects can get funded more quickly, while still allowing for blended capital and access to non-accredited investors to be in the same deals.

**3: Allowing companies and crowdfunding platforms to market and advertise an investment opportunity prior to officially listing it (taking “indications of interest”) **

Under the current Reg CF exemption, issuers (i.e. companies that host investment opportunities on marketplaces like Raise Green’s) are unable to communicate with their investor base until they have gone through the process of preparing an offering. Allowing issuers to effectively “test the waters” and gauge interest may lead to an explosion of interest among both issuers and investors alike. Increasing transparency in the fundraising and project development process is likely to improve access and efficiency in our work to build a new asset class of green crowdfunded private equity.

Raise Green views many of the changes in the proposed rule as important ways to help accelerate inclusive climate finance and move towards a democratized clean energy future. We have more than 60 Originators in the pipeline to create climate action projects - if these Originators and others are able to operate under these new rule changes, we anticipate an explosion of interest among the impact investing community and an increase in the number and variety of prospective Originators. It’s an exciting time for Raise Green, and we welcome you all to join the movement to finance and create the climate-safe and resilient future that we all want and need. To see the entire letter in extended detail, check out this [link] (https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-05-20/s70520-7261538-217666.pdf).

As always, feel free to engage us in conversation and send any questions or comments you might have to info@raisegreen.com.

To get the most up-to-date information on Raise Green content, please sign up for our email list and follow any of our social accounts ([Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/raisegreeninc/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RaiseGreenInc), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/RaiseGreenInc/), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/raisegreen)). 


![Img](//a.storyblok.com/f/77953/267x150/2252db00c5/updated-copy-__-raisegreen-pitch-deck-200407-1.svg)

*This is not a Research Report, should not be construed as investment advice, and does not constitute a solicitation to sell or an offer to buy securities relating to any products referenced herein Past performance is not indicative of future results. This blog represents a business discussion only and the views of individuals at Raise Green. Investing in Crowdfunded investments is risky and speculative. Please see FAQs on this Site for more information.*

Changing the Rules in a Changing Climate: Raise Green Comments on the SEC’s Proposed Changes to Crowdinvesting Rules

Changing the Rules in a Changing Climate

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