Global Good Finance Player of the Year

GOLD

Triodos Bank: Making positive impact

Triodos Bank is unique in the banking landscape – a retail bank that only provides finance and tailored support to progressive companies and social enterprises making a positive impact, both from an environmental and social perspective, and offering 100% transparency on how the money entrusted by savers and investors is used.

In 2023 Triodos was ranked #1 globally for the most active clean energy deals, financing 640 renewable energy projects and avoiding 996 ktonne CO2e emissions; alongside financing regenerative agriculture, social housing, care homes and cultural institutions.

Triodos also applies some of the strictest minimum standards in the industry, for example never funding fossil fuels, fast fashion, weapons, tobacco or deforestation.

We have recently pioneered new business models of nature-based investment, and challenged the financial sector to commit to real action on climate change by becoming the first bank in the world to support the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative.

In 2023 we proved that positive impact and financial stability go hand in hand, achieving our best financial result ever, recording a EUR 77.2 million net profit.

SILVER

Octopus Electric Vehicles: Sustainably financing the EV revolution

Here at Octopus Electric Vehicles, we’re using sustainable financing to accelerate the EV revolution, one car at a time.

We finance EVs for UK employees up and down the country through their workplaces, giving drivers quicker and easier access to a broader range of EVs than ever before, all while saving up to 40% in tax.

We only finance 100% green, clean EVs (no hybrids). As well as our flagship salary sacrifice scheme, we’ve diversified our financing portfolio to include personal leasing and business contract hire, helping to put more and more EVs on UK roads than ever before.

As the only EV salary sacrifice scheme provider rated 4.8* on Trustpilot, our clever blend of green tech and no-nonsense customer experience has already helped 10,000 drivers get behind the wheel of an EV, taking 28K tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

And we’re using our commercial success to bring more sustainable initiatives to life, investing in EV technologies that drive forward our mission of creating a greener future. From our EV charging network ‘Electroverse’ to cutting-edge Vehicle-to-Grid technology, we’re constantly working to make EV ownership as accessible, attractive and forward-thinking as possible.

ONE TO WATCH

Global Canopy, Stockholm Environment Institute & ZSL: Forest IQ

In 2023 the world lost an area of tropical forest the size of Switzerland. Not only does deforestation destroy biodiversity and vital ecosystems, it’s also behind 11% of annual global emissions – more than twice that of the aviation and shipping industries combined. There is no way to reach our net-zero targets without ending deforestation. World leaders have set a 2030 deadline to make that happen.

Forest IQ is a game-changing innovation that allows financial institutions to lead the way in tackling deforestation in their portfolios and meet net-zero targets in the process.

Created by three leading not-for-profit data providers in this space, Global Canopy, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and ZSL, Forest IQ brings together in one platform the best available data on how more than 2,000 major companies are addressing their links to deforestation. Three core metrics align the data, providing financial institutions with actionable information so they can screen portfolios, engage with the most relevant companies and ultimately drive change.

The collaboration transforms the deforestation data landscape and was developed in consultation with 40 leading financial institutions to ensure it meets their needs. And it’s designed to continue to grow and evolve as the data landscape improves.

ONE TO WATCH

Generate Capital, esVolta & U.S. Bank: Empower esVolta for Santa Paula Energy Storage Project

In November 2023, Generate Capital supported esVolta, LP, a leading developer, owner and operator of utility-scale battery story projects in North America in closing a tax equity investment with U.S. Bankcorp Impact Finance, a subsidiary of U.S. Bank, to finance its Santa Paula Energy Storage project.

The new tax equity financing structure will support the completion of a 30 MW/60 MWh battery project currently being built in Santa Paula, California, which will contribute to a cleaner, more reliable, and faster electric grid in California. The capacity addition to California’s grid will improve the state’s ability to respond to changes in energy demand -ultimately making the grid more resilient.

Generate’s work with esVolta sets the standard for a new and powerful financing model for more battery storage and clean energy projects, and are among the first partners to structure tax equity taking advantage of the tax credits for standalone energy storage enabled by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.