Copenhagen Fintech Christmas Calendar #19: Fintech for Climate Change, Part 2
In this episode Head of Fintech Intelligence, Mads Schiøler Tingsgård is joined by Founder of Ekofolio Ian Choo.
Who is Ian Choo?
Originally from Singapore, Ian has lived in Denmark for almost 10 years. With a background in Management Consulting, he moved to Denmark while being on a quest for a gentler and more sustainable model of capitalism.
What is Ekofolio?
The problem of investing in land with trees is that the investment is illiquid in 18–20 years until the trees are big enough. Ian and Ekofolio have the mission of fixing this problem with technology. Today, they strive to build a liquid market with trust, transparency and reporting with the mission to make global forest assets more liquid. The return on a forest investment is around 8–10%, which is derived from the tree itself and the land underneath it. With an increase of 4% in forests every year, we could neutralize carbon emission from fossil fuels, while using blockchain technology to build the investment platform, lowering fees to middlemen.
How can investment in sustainable assets drive change in climate change?
There is a lot of talk about what sustainable assets mean. Ekofolio’s focus lies within the natural assets which consist of areas, such as land and water, within the biological ecosystem. Other forms of investment in sustainable energy could be investments into sustainable infrastructure, for instance, renewable energy, sustainable powerplants, battery and storage, smart grids and plug-in electric vehicles.
“There is no such thing as waste; waste is only a way to think about used natural resources”
According to Ian, we should be working towards a circular economy, where you give back what you took from nature. To him, almost all waste can be put back into the economy, we just need the right systems to be set up.
How does finance and sustainability work together?
Finance always had a special place in capitalism. Wherever finance goes, interest seems to emerge. Therefore, investors carry the responsibility to spark an interest in sustainability. The problem is that we seem to have thought of sustainability and impact as the opposite of self-profitability and whereas companies are oftentimes too caught up in maximizing profits, they should rather expand their focus on three responsibilities: Making a profit (not maximizing it), keeping their workers happy and doing good for society. Profit can be seen as an input, outcome or motive, and Ian thinks it should be seen as the outcome.
Does fintech matter and why?
As Ian made clear, finance is a very important way to spark interest, and investment is needed to drive forward sustainable solutions. Additionally, technology has the potential to be the key driver behind this, as it simplifies complex processes and makes sustainable investments available to everyone.
Listen in on the episode here on iTunes, Spotify, and Podbean.