Driebergen, the Netherlands, May 7, 2024– Triodos Bank N.V. is proud to announce an innovative partnership with Fondaction, a Canadian labour-sponsored investment fund, with the explicit intention to jointly accelerate positive change in global finance.
Both Triodos Bank and Fondaction have been using money for positive change for decades already, financing initiatives that contribute to addressing the many interconnected global challenges our society is faced with, such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and increasing social inequality. To address these global challenges more capital is needed to finance sustainable initiatives and as such we need to urgently scale finance with integrity, increasing our focus on sustainable finance and impact investing.
Building on their extensive track record, both entities will collaborate to accelerate the pace of change by financing positive change on the one hand and advocating for the financial sector to become fairer, more inclusive, greener and more efficient, on the other.
Jeroen Rijpkema, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Triodos Bank: “We are delighted to enter into a partnership with Fondaction and put our collective experience and ambitions to work in creating positive change for the planet and society. As a sign of commitment, both parties foresee to invest in each other’s activities over the next two years. By joining forces, we can scale our impact and accelerate the changes that are so urgently required.”
“Collaborating with institutions that share our vision and values is essential to fostering the transformation needed to shape tomorrow’s economy. Our partnership with Triodos Bank and Triodos Investment Management is an exceptional opportunity to mobilize our strengths and multiply our impact on the economy and the financial sector. And by investing in each other's activities, we mutually contribute to our successes”, says Geneviève Morin, President and CEO of Fondaction.
Finance Change
Nature is a key theme for both organisations and the path is clear: financial institutions must stop funding activities that are harmful to nature and instead start fostering direct solutions. As part of this partnership, the subsidiaries of both entities, Triodos Investment Management and Fondaction Asset Management, will set-up a joint venture that focusses on addressing the finance gap for biodiversity and natural capital solutions in developed markets, such as regenerative agriculture, sustainable forestry and nature restoration.
The joint venture will focus on financing real assets through the development of a closed-end fund platform, which will invest private capital in projects and organisations active in biodiversity, nature, and climate resilience.
Hadewych Kuiper, Managing Director of Triodos Investment Management, Member of the Management Board: “The need to address global challenges such as climate change and loss of biodiversity has never been more important. We strongly believe in the power of collaboration to truly make a difference as we cannot do it alone. As such, we are very excited to partner up with a like-minded investor such as Fondaction to jointly finance change and change finance.”
Change Finance
The financial sector plays a crucial role in the profound transformation of our economy, to meet people’s needs while respecting planetary boundaries. Triodos Investment Management and Fondaction Asset Management will also develop a joint advocacy agenda with the goal of engaging the financial sector and governments in driving positive change.
The partnership proposes a three-way approach: collaboration, education, and advocacy. By collaborating, we gather like-minded individuals, organisations and communities who share a common vision. The goal is to identify mutual objectives and priorities and to harness collective resources, expertise, and networks to drive significant change. By educating, we both strive to develop and share a robust understanding of sustainable finance, encompassing its challenges, trends, and opportunities. By advocating, we aim to influence policymakers and the financial sector to promote transparency, shaping the regulatory and operational landscape of finance.
“Through this intentional and aligned collaboration, we can demonstrate the scalability of solutions that address the dual climate and biodiversity crises with integrity and that can achieve both performances and positive outcomes for nature. We hope to mobilize institutional investors in driving meaningful changes on a larger scale. We are excited about this new partnership.” - Marc-André Binette, Vice-President and General Manager, Fondaction Asset Management