From private citizens to governments, there’s a major shift to alternative energy sources and companies at the forefront are set to skyrocketOnce viewed as nice-to-have “green window-dressing”, sustainable investing has quickly become the must-have investment strategy for 2022 and beyond.
On a macro level, governments are scrambling to secure greater energy independence, not to be held hostage to fossil fuel-supplying nations that are — or are likely to become — geopolitical adversaries. The uptick in ESG investment has been driven largely by governments mandating ESG factors be written into institutional investment policies, partly in a rush to meet UN sustainable development goals . By early 2022, mandatory ESG reporting requirements had increased to 600 globally, a jump from 383 in 2016 when the SDGs were introduced.
From a Sygnia perspective, sustainable investment is focused on four key pillars: infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and society. And there’s a lot of compelling new technology across these sectors.Solar-to-hydrogen technology is seen as one of the most exciting growth areas in the clean energy space, with the potential to address a key challenge with renewables — the large-scale storage of electricity from variable sources such as wind and solar.
That’s why any good sustainability-focused investment fund should include companies that are finding innovative solutions to boost food production while cutting the environmental impact of farming. A good example is company Beyond Meat, which produces plant-based meat substitutes that are as yummy as the real thing but generate up to 90% fewer greenhouse gases than farming livestock. Valmont Industries has pioneered irrigation technology that improves water absorption rates by 85%-90%.