Invest in Our Planet

Invest in Our Planet – Earth Day is tomorrow and the theme this year is “invest in our planet” so, this month we decided to look at investing to decarbonise the blue economy, in water solutions in India and how much it will take to make New Zealand cities “spongier”.  Plus, see our takeaways from the second ever UN Water Conference that wrapped last month.

Named after the arctic Narwhale that is often dubbed as the “unicorn of the sea”, Narwhale Ventures is a fund that participates in early-stage financing rounds of ocean-related startups. Its main objective is to decarbonise the blue economy by focusing on three major investment themes.

We sat down with Narwhale’s Co-founder and CEO, Celine Schulze to learn more about what startups they have in their pipeline and how the space is changing as investors become more aware of the ocean of opportunities.

Next, we delve into early-stage water investing in India. Samir Shah, Managing Partner of Peak Sustainability Ventures says, “Isn’t it ironic that the modern age of AI co-exists with a billion people that don’t have access to clean drinking water?” We agree.

The problem is beyond capital availability or ‘sexy’ technology but rather a lack of fully understanding the issues, according to Shah. See what else he thinks and what type of solutions they are investing in, especially in delivering localised solutions be they centralised or decentralised.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, the issue is more too much water having suffered two extreme and deadly weather events within the first two months of 2023, which have brought the consequences of climate change into sharp focus.

There’s now a lot more talk about needing “sponge cities”, with Auckland being a prime candidate. But what does this entail? What lesson can be learned from China who has been running a 10-year programme on this? And just how much is the hefty price tag – how many millions? Lecturer Alex Lo and Dr Faith Chan lay it all out.

Clearly we are investing in our planet, just look at the above but huge gaps still remain, especially in water. And unfortunately but not that surprising the UN 2023 Water Conference didn’t deliver meaningful action urgently needed at a mammoth scale to deliver on SDG 6 – we are so woefully off course – or to sustainably manage global water resources.

Overall, it’s good the Conference happened though. It shone a bright spotlight on water that the world couldn’t ignore. Plus, some interesting programmes were launched. It’s now what comes after and there is no room for excuses. See more in our 3 key takeaways from the Conference.

So, this Earth Day think about what investments you can make for our planet and stop making investments that hurt it, that hurt us and our future. It’s more than time to change the way we are investing in energy and modernise our investments in food, transport, water and more. Investing in the green and blue economies is the only path to a healthy, prosperous and equitable future. Happy Earth Day!