Summer Edition: CEO Message
Summer continues to be a busy time for the InBC team. With our Investment Policy Statement (IPS) now approved, we are fully operationalizing our processes, tools and templates to begin reviewing investment opportunities this fall. Building a strong foundation is an essential step to ensure we have a thorough process through which to evaluate investment opportunities aligned with our strategy. As an impact investment fund, we have identified four primary impact objectives to guide our investment decisions:
- Drive climate action;
- Advance reconciliation;
- Elevate inclusive communities, and;
- Innovate for the future.
Learn more about our Impact Objectives here.
With so many opportunities for impact, we have prioritized our approach. Starting Fall 2022, we will begin reviewing investment opportunities in venture capital funds that align with our impact objectives across the various stages of growth (seed, early stage and later stage) with strong connections to BC. In 2023, we will progress to also reviewing direct investment opportunities into early stage and later stage ventures.
Learn more about our Investment Strategy here.
This fall we will share further details on our investment strategy and will host a series of information sessions. To receive regular updates on our progress, please subscribe to our newsletter.
Enjoy the rest of the summer, we look forward to engaging with you further in the fall.
The Role of Finance in Driving Climate Action
By Juvarya Veltkamp
One billion people live in jurisdictions that have declared a climate emergency, including over 38 million residents of Canada which declared a climate emergency in 2019. In March 2022, the Government of Canada introduced Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, which provides a roadmap for the Canadian economy to achieve 40-45% emissions reductions below 2005 levels by 2030. The Province of BC has laid out a roadmap to reduce emissions below 40% by 2030 in its CleanBC Plan. A 2021 Queens University report estimated that a 40-45 percent reduction in Canada’s emissions would require an investment of $201 billion, which no government can deliver alone.
In order to catalyze the transformation required for these plans, more private capital must be mobilized. InBC’s investment strategy aims to crowd in private capital to bolster the deployment of clean solutions at scale. We will collaborate with the private sector and other funders to deliver a source of patient, additive capital to funds and companies that drive financial returns as well environmental, social and economic returns.
In addition to unlocking private capital, investors must ensure that the negative risks and externalities associated with investments into carbon intense industries are priced into investment decisions. At InBC, a triple bottom line is embedded in our mandate. This means that we incorporate global impact investing standards throughout our investment process to ensure our investments are screened for environmental, social, and governance risks (including climate risk and diversity, equity and inclusion), and can demonstrate measurable impact aligned with our impact objectives.
InBC is well positioned to contribute to the massive change needed, and looks forward to collaborating with other key partners throughout the ecosystem.
Juvarya Veltkamp, our Chief of Strategy and Operations, is a long-time champion of urban innovation and economic resilience. She is transitioning from InBC in order to focus on her passion for shaping cities of the future and pursuing opportunities related to decarbonization and market transformation that deliver an urgent and just transition to net-zero emissions. We wish Juvarya all the best in this exciting pursuit.
Announcements
Miranda McClure joins us as Administrative Assistant to the Investment Team. Miranda’s previous experience includes an administrative role at the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, and she is extremely well-placed to bring her expertise and knowledge to InBC.
Sheliza Thobani, our current Marketing and Communications Specialist, is off to Bologna, Italy with a full scholarship to obtain her MBA in Green Energy and Sustainable Businesses. As she’ll be living and studying in the heart of sustainable innovation in Europe, we wish her good luck and continued success on this next part of her journey, as we prepare to welcome a new Marketing and Communications Specialist in the coming weeks.
In the Community:
- Connect Money Impact – As the keynote speaker at this Victoria event, Jill Earthy, CEO, shared the vision for InBC and its role in partnering with the ecosystem to further integrate money and impact. Thought leaders from across the province participated in this impact focused event hosted at the University of Victoria by Scale Collaborative.
- North American Women in Trade Summit – The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade of Canada, hosted her colleagues from the US and Mexico along with a group of women entrepreneurs from all three countries at a 2-day trade summit in Vancouver. Jill Earthy, CEO, spoke to the group about accessing capital and the path to scaling.
- Designing public banks to direct finance for transformative decarbonisation: IIPP and The Rockefeller Foundation – Leah Nguyen, CIO, participated in a panel discussion with leaders from other public banks across the globe to share our approach and learn from others.