The rCFO is dedicated to materially increasing ESG innovation at scale through regenerative finance for CFOs — decision systems, investing, financing, and reporting.
If you are a financial executive who wants to create a regenerative economy that is net positive to nature and to no one's detriment, then this is for you.
We are at a global environmental and social tipping point. We see this need and many are beginning to understand that business should and must be the force for good to solve these seemingly intractable problems. We face many challenges related to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) climate change, depletion of natural resources, and destabilizing social inequities, and the socio-economic implications are systemic and serious. Business is in the unique position to solve these problems through creative, co-collaborative innovation. Many business leaders today see the necessity of tackling these issues head-on. We see the ‘office of the CFO’ as central to making this shift happen by understanding submerged risk, creating balanced, multi-stakeholder business models and decisioning systems, and by presenting integrated, comprehensive reporting to the world. In essence, we need a comprehensive anticipatory governance model where the CFO is ultimately responsible.
This is why we are launching this bi-weekly regenerative finance newsletter we are calling the "rCFO Brief." Created for senior finance professionals, and specific to CFOs, our objective is to help transform corporate finance into regenerative finance through decision systems, to investing, financing, and reporting. This bi-weekly publication will help you keep up to speed on the latest information and research and, we trust, will help you discover the importance of regenerative finance and discover the best practices to execute and operationalize a regenerative finance function in your organization. Our pledge is to bring to you only the most relevant and impactful information that will help you think anew about regenerative finance: rCFO Podcast Series, Webinars, and INTEGRATE21.
Commentary: ESG, SDGs, & SustainChain
First, with our goal of creating a regenerative future, we have created a framework (see diagram above) that integrates ESG and Planet, People, Prosperity, then adding in the six capitals as structural beams that become the lattice that supports ESG-related investment and innovation. Furthermore, the SDGs map perfectly with ESG, and so it all comes together within a common understanding that can then be expanded to any industry sector, size, region, or group.
Second, one of the technologies applying this framework is SustainChain, which was built and deployed by the US Coalition on Sustainability. This is an open-source based, free SaaS solution that ties together innovators and investors within an ecosystem network framed around the 17 SDGs and the related 169 targets. Last, we contextualize regenerative finance as every area of the corporate finance function, including: Board, CXOx, CFO, Treasury, FP&A, Risk, Controllership, and Investor Relations. Stay tuned for more on INTEGRATE’s 5 pillar rCFO® regenerative framework in our next issue.
rCFO Corner
“The Finance Function (CFO) see’s everything so they can impact everything.”
Welcome Harmit Singh, CFO of Levi Strauss & Co and a member of A4S — Accounting For Sustainability. Singh shared in the Finances of Sustainability: “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I weren’t interested in sustainability and weren’t supporting it throughout the company. But it goes deeper than that for me: Soon after I started here, I visited factories in Turkey and Vietnam. I met the people in those factories who make our products. I saw what the facilities meant to the communities where they were located; I’d had a sense of it from growing up in India, too.”
Insights
The SEC responds to climate and ESG risks, opportunities, and disclosures. As investor demand for climate and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) information soars, the SEC is responding with an all-agency approach. Reporting
In 2021, the global impact of environmental, social and corporate governance ("ESG") investing will continue to grow, with key implications for the asset management industry. In the U.S., where there is no dedicated ESG-related regulatory structure in place, investor demand for ESG-focused strategies is driving fund managers to provide additional resources in the area. In addition, the Biden administration's early focus on the environment will likely lead to greater scrutiny by the SEC. Governance
Let’s put the “S” into ESG Investing. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments are more popular than ever. With ESG funds bringing in $21 billion in the first quarter of this year, this category is on track to have a record year of inflows in 2021 and is poised to become a $1 trillion category by 2030. Investing
Regulators target ESG “greenwashing.” The ESG investing space has become increasingly susceptible to marketing hype. Sustainable investing, like any other hot retail investment trend, is vulnerable to hype. Regulators now are stepping up their efforts to ensure investors are getting what they’re promised from environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments. Reporting
Jeremy Rifkin’s recent book on “The new Green Deal.” A new vision for America's future is quickly gaining momentum. Facing a global emergency, a younger generation is spearheading a national conversation around a Green New Deal and setting the agenda for a bold political movement with the potential to revolutionize society. Millennials, the largest voting bloc in the country, are now leading on the issue of climate change. Jeremy also wrote the Zero Marginal Cost Society and The Third Industrial Revolution. And, should you be so inclined, please watch Jeremy’s SciPo talk on the global implications. Theory, Investing, Financing
Featured ESG Investor
At One Ventures, Tom Chi, Founder and Managing Director, $150M AUM
At One Ventures finds, funds, and grows teams to catalyze a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. They back early-stage (Seed, Series A) companies that are using disruptive deep tech to upend the unit economics of established industries while dramatically reducing their planetary footprint. They also look for companies that are pioneering new industries that are actively regenerative to planetary health. Lastly, they look for companies that have significant potential to be healthy, scalable businesses, because the positive impacts we invest in only last as long as the businesses that carry them. Please enjoy this Tedx talk from Tom, astrophysicist and former executive with Google X.
Featured ESG Investment
Reefgen––Without coral reefs, we have no ocean life. We address this urgent challenge by replanting coral nurseries with unit economics that create cascading benefits at scale.
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