News Summary

Just Climate, an offshoot of Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management, has successfully raised $175 million from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) to focus on nature-based climate solutions. Historically, investments in climate-related sectors have heavily favored energy and transportation, with nature-based solutions receiving significantly less attention. In 2022, only $35 billion was invested in these solutions compared to $1.46 trillion in other climate finance sectors. The new fund aims to address this disparity by supporting projects in agriculture, forestry, and land-use change, which collectively account for about 15% of annual global emissions. The fund will invest in technologies such as biological fertilizers, restoration finance platforms, and carbon reduction verification systems. Just Climate’s first investment was in NatureMetrics, a company that uses environmental DNA to determine the biodiversity of a site.