Stockholm (NordSIP) – As investors continue to pour money onto ESG investments, transparency and the visibility of carbon emissions becomes an increasingly important factor in investment decisions. In this spirit, German financial indices provider Solactive purchased a minority stake in Spark Change, a green FinTech company.
“Previously, access to the carbon emissions markets worldwide was highly restricted,” said Steffen Scheuble, CEO of Solactive. “Spark Change expands the boundaries of green investing, allowing investors to act in this increasingly important field of sustainable finance. Solactive’s mission matches well with the disruptive attitude of Spark Change, and we are looking forward to providing our clients with new and innovative ways to build their ESG product suites.”
Spark Change aims to simplify access to carbon markets and prices around the world. It provides its users a technology platform and financial product ecosystem for qualified institutional and individual investors seeking to gain exposure to carbon allowances.
According to the FinTech company, “securities, issued via the Spark Change platform, provide investors direct exposure to the value of physical carbon allowances – without the complex and costly set-up requirements needed to access the market directly and take delivery of physical carbon allowances.”
The investment was part of a US$4.5 million funding round led by Barclays and included FinLab AG, one of Germany’s largest FinTech-focused Venture Capital investors. Solactive‘s investment recognizes the disruptive power of Spark Change’s technology platform its ability to provide access to emissions data directly relevant to Solactive’s indices and enable investors to develop their own innovative ESG solutions.
“We’re delighted such a forward-thinking company like Solactive shares our values of environmental stewardship and financial innovation,” Joff Hamilton-Dick, CEO at Spark Change, added. “The growing demand from institutions seeking innovation in the ESG space illustrates we’ve struck a chord that resonates around the world. We believe that market-driven pressures combined with our platform can directly impact the price of carbon and help have a greater impact.”
