Hello ImpactAlpha readers!

#Featured: Agents of Impact

Your favorite impact investors revealed, one by one. The response to our call last week to ‘name your favorite impact investor’ demonstrated the breadth of the talent pool under the big tent of impact investing. Many respondents ducked the question because they couldn’t pick a single favorite; only a few nominees were named more than once. The responses spanned asset classes and geographies and included both individual leaders and standout organizations.

Rather than choose ourselves, we’re going to roll out your favorites over the next several weeks, in a new feature called Agents of Impact. We’ll even the score soon with your favorite entrepreneurs and others building the impact market. The first Agent of Impact, Root Capital, is profiled below.

Keep your suggestions coming by sending a note to thebrief@impactalpha.com or a tweet @impactalpha.

#Dealflow: Follow the Money

Generate Capital launches $250 million financing facility for solar+storage projects. The advent of cost-effective batteries for electricity storage is making the numbers work for an increasing number of commercial and industrial solar installations (see “Energy storage takes shape with financing for Southern California battery installations”). Also helpful: rebates for such projects from the state of California that become available May 1. The specialty finance company Generate Capital has created a vehicle to capitalize $250 million in solar+storage and other energy storage projects. Co-founder Jigar Shah, who earlier pioneered solar power-purchase agreements as the founder of SunEdison, told ImpactAlpha that the facility is the first to finance 20-year solar+storage power-purchase agreements that guarantee building owners significant energy savings. Shah launched Generate in 2014 with co-founders Scott Jacobs and Matan Friedman to “bring project finance to the hundreds of technologies that cost more upfront but save money over time that are either too confusing or too small for the traditional players to invest in” (see, “Jigar Shah Eyes $1 Trillion Opportunities”).

INSEAD team pitches online medical education venture to win MIINT competition. Many social-impact contests reward student entrepreneurs. But last weekend’s MIINT (for MBA Impact Investing Network & Training) competition may be the only one that selects students for their abilities as investors. The finals at Wharton in Philadelphia capped a six-month lab that helps MBA students “think like an impact investor” by having them identify, diligence and present an actual venture to a hypothetical investment committee. The team from INSEAD’s Singapore campus took the top prize and the opportunity for a $50,000 investment for the online medical education company they pitched to the judges. A team from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University took second prize for its presentation of a behavioral health platform. Third place went to a team from Tufts’ Fletcher School for their pitch for an online marketplace for agricultural finance. The competition drew more than 600 students in its sixth year, demonstrating “the global appetite for this kind of program,” said Brian Trelstad, a partner at Bridges Fund Management, a co-sponsor of the competition.

World Bank passes $10 billion green bond milestone. With a sale last week of two bonds to Swedish insurance company Folksam, the World Bank passed the $10 billion mark for its issues of green bonds [paywall]. The bank, which launched the first green bonds in 2008, is now the world’s third largest green bond issuer after European Investment Bank and German development bank KfW. The bank’s 130 green bonds (in 18 currencies) have raised $10.05 billion to finance renewable energy installations, energy efficiency projects, waste management and agriculture technologies that meet criteria for low carbon and climate resilient growth. The green bonds generate low-cost capital because they carry the World Bank’s AAA credit rating. The two bonds sold to Folksam, for example, have five-year maturities and include a $300 million bond paying 2% annually and a $50 million floating-rate bond.

See all of ImpactAlpha’s recent #dealflow.

#Agent of Impact: Root Capital

Building the market for small farmer finance. In more than a decade as a lender to small farmers and agricultural co-ops in Africa and Latin America, Root Capital has gained a reputation for delivering genuine impact in a tough sector. A typical loan works like this: A coffee-farmer cooperative gets an order from a buyer for Starbucks. With this contract as security, Root makes a loan to the co-op to buy coffee beans from individual farmers. When the co-op delivers, Starbucks pays Root, which deducts the loan payments and passes the balance to the co-op. Root has extended about a $1 billion in credit to more than 600 co-ops, small businesses, and other farmer groups, reaching more than 5.6 million farmers and their family members. Higher prices and better yields mean more money for food, healthcare, and school fees. Last year alone, Root Capital’s lending helped to unlock $1.2 billion in sales. Its loan portfolio stands at about $84 million. Root’s performance has helped attract banks and financial institutions that now see the once too-risky rural agricultural markets as a lendable opportunity. Root is backed by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the International Finance Corp., Trillium Asset Management Corp., the Calvert Foundation and the Gates Foundation.

#Signals: Ahead of the Curve

UBS calls for “civic capital” to finance modern infrastructure. Transport, energy distribution, clean water and broadband access: infrastructure has broad (and bipartisan) appeal. The Swiss bank UBS wants to use that appeal to establish the concept of “civic capital.” With financing from a variety of public and private sources, the bank writes in a new report, the government can bring in new, and sometimes surprising, investors “willing to accept proportional risk in exchange for compelling returns.” UBS suggests tapping the “burgeoning demand for sustainable investments, environmental finance, and impact investing.” To leverage private capital and multiply public dollars, the government can deploy guarantees, tax preferences, or spending matches. The Trump team may be listening: White House officials were reading the UBS report ahead of this week’s infrastructure summit.

The death of coral reefs signals massive economic losses. Worldwide, reefs support around 500 million people in 50 countries. A 2015 WWF report, “Reviving the Ocean Economy,” suggests the value of global coral reefs is more than $1 trillion, and it’s all at risk as coral reefs degenerate at an alarming pace. Off the coast of Queensland, Australia, rising sea temperatures have caused massive bleaching to two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef, leaving it in a “terminal state,” according to scientists. Queensland alone could lose a million visitors a year, 10,000 jobs and $1 billion from the economy. Such risks create investment opportunities as well. In Australia, the government plans to invest $200 million annually to protect the reef and attract private capital. One small example: $4.5 million in support of a $12.8 million investment by sugarcane growers to reduce the flow of harmful nutrients. “The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia’s greatest economic assets,” says the Climate Council’s Lesley Hughes.

#2030: Long-Termism

Gas-powered Russia could (and should) double its share of renewables by 2030. Russia is not known for its sunshine. Nor for its renewable energy supply (which is dominated by hydro). Russia’s energy strategy calls for less than 5% of it electricity needs to be met by renewables by 2030. Germany, by comparison, is aiming for 45% and the U.S for 20%.

A new report from International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) suggests Russia could more than double its goal and meet 11.3% of its energy needs with renewables by 2030.

How? By enhancing its electric grid, integrating new technologies and exporting excess capacity to address variability. The plan includes doubling its solar target from 2.6 gigawatts to 5 gigawatts, particularly in southern regions like Dagestan and Altai. Decentralizing the power supply could boost electricity to isolated regions.

What’s holding it back: the low cost of natural gas in Russia, which is second only to the U.S. in natural gas production. Unclear national and state regulatory frameworks have also stifled private investment. As in the U.S. and Europe, climate concerns and reduced greenhouse gas emissions need not be the only drivers. The IRENA report suggests investments in renewables will stimulate the economy, create jobs, boost science and technology, supply energy to isolated areas and improve environmental quality.

Onward! Please send any news and comments to TheBrief@impactalpha.com.