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Earth Finance, a corporate strategy and climate investing firm embracing the intersection of strategy, investing, public policy, and science, launched today. Founded by institutional investment executive Bryan Weeks, former Washington State Senator Reuven Carlyle, and seasoned climate strategy advisor Garrett Kephart, Earth Finance provides clients operationally viable and financially prudent approaches to decarbonization. The firm secured $14M from private investors in a seed round of financing.
“Many companies have objectives to be net zero or net positive by 2050 or sooner. Achieving those goals, while also continuing to grow, requires a whole new way of thinking and operating,” said Garrett Kephart, President of Earth Finance. “By applying inter-disciplinary expertise, Earth Finance helps its global clients reengineer their businesses and investments to achieve – and thrive in – a net zero future.”
According to new research from BloombergNEF, investment in clean energy technologies jumped 31% in 2022, putting it on par with capital deployments for fossil fuels. This reallocation of capital indicates commitment to achieve the ambition identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, which limits Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees. Delivered through three complementary capabilities – Corporate Strategy, Investing, and Technology Solutions – Earth Finance helps companies simultaneously achieve revenue growth and a 1.5-degree future.
Earth Finance’s clients operate across many industries, including retail, renewable energy, agriculture, financial services and asset management, and biochemicals. The three Seattle-based founding partners provide deep domain expertise to the complex intersection among climate, investing, consulting, public policy, and technology.
CEO Bryan Weeks is the former head of Russell Investment’s Americas Institutional business and brings 25+ years of investing acumen and team building to Earth Finance. In his 14 years as a state senator and chair of the Washington state Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee, former Senator Reuven Carlyle is an architect of globally recognized state-level climate legislation including cap and invest carbon pricing, 100% clean energy, clean fuel standard and more. Earth Finance President Garrett Kephart is an experienced executive and management consultant who has 20+ years of driving growth-focused climate action, sustainability, and social impact solutions.
“We believe accelerated climate action, sustainability and deep decarbonization are fully consistent with revenue growth and fiduciary financial management,” said Chief Sustainability Officer Reuven Carlyle. “We believe that it’s possible to decarbonize our global economy in financially prudent ways that contribute to community equity, resiliency, and market success.”
About Earth Finance
Earth Finance is a corporate strategy and climate investing firm embracing the intersection of finance, policy and science to accelerate a low-carbon economy. For more information visit www.earthfinance.com.
