Market insight

• The growing case for conservation finance

  Conservation finance may appear to be one of the most esoteric investment niches, but experimentation and innovation is giving way to proof of concept – attracting a growing number of institutional investors along the way. Mark Nicholls reports

  

• Hedging, whatever the weather

  As renewable energy becomes an increasing part of the grid, the volatility it creates is generating demand for weather hedging products. Q&A with Stuart Brown, Head Origination Weather & Energy EMEA APAC, at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.

  

• Green fingers or green washing: sustainability research takes a look at green bonds

  The green bond market continues to grow at a phenomenal rate: the Climate Bonds Initiative has forecast $100 billion of issuance for 2016.

  

• 'People need nature'

  Agustín Silvani, Vice President of Conservation Finance at Conservation International, explains how this is more than a tagline – it's a call to action now codified in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.

  

• Channeling the power of results-based action to benefit the climate

  Over the course of ten years, South Pole Group has leveraged carbon markets to produce over 100,000 GWh of renewable energy and to unlock 80 million tonnes of CO2 reductions - more than the annual national GHG emissions of Greece.

  

• The corporate decarbonisation imperative

  The Paris Agreement has set the end-goal – a massive decarbonisation effort to mitigate against and adapt to climate change. Gerald Maradan considers how companies should respond.

  

• Nephila: eyeing new markets, new models

  Nephila Capital is raising new capital as it eyes weather hedging opportunities in renewable energy and disruption in cat risk insurance underwriting. Barney Schauble talks to Environmental Finance

• Tracing the Origin of Power

  For a growing number of companies, electricity is a prime resource in the value chain. Being able to trace the origin of power has never been more important...

• Winds of change blow through cat risk markets

  Growing investor demand for catastrophe exposure is helping the insurance sector change how it manages natural disaster risk, Barney Schauble of Nephila Advisors tells Environmental Finance

• Letters from Lima

  The UN climate conference in Lima was billed as a key event in the build-up to a global agreement in Paris in 2015. This series of articles looks at some of the major topics covered.