What kind of climate investor would we be if we didn’t talk about the latest IPCC Report that dropped on August 9? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the first of three installments of the Sixth Assessment Report earlier this month. The big takeaway is the certainty in the link between human-emitted carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, rising global temperatures, and accelerating climate impacts.

If you’re like us, it can be depressing reading headline after headline about how dire the climate crisis is. Fires, floods, feedback loops … ffffff. Well, there are also some big things going in the right direction and we want to share some optimism.

We are privileged and grateful to work from the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people, the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Nations. A short walk from our North Vancouver office is the Squamish village of Ustlawn where there is a heartbreaking collection of children’s shoes on the steps of the community chapel.

After several months, a lot of hard work and incredible support from our community, we’re thrilled to announce (before any official press release) that the close of Fund II is imminent.

For us, investing in startups is so much more than just writing cheques. It comes down to providing practical support for our founders, making fruitful introductions, getting hands-on with our sales and talent expertise – whatever it takes to help our portfolio companies succeed.

What kind of fund manager would say that or even worse propose that as a goal for their team? Um... me. I was inspired by Jim Collins' famous concept of Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) and by an example used in a book called Switch where an oil and gas company set a goal of "no dry wells" when the norm at the time was the majority of drills yielded no oil.

At Active Impact we have three overarching jobs and we are grateful to share that in February, we were able to execute effectively in all three categories.

The new year has gotten off to a quick start for Active Impact. We’re thrilled to share the imminent launch of our next fund, Active Impact Fund II. We’ve been blown away by the demand from new and existing LPs and as a result, we plan to complete our first close at the end of this month.

The New Year often brings an opportunity for a fresh start: new goals, fresh ambitions and renewed hope for the year ahead. However, the memories of 2020 will last far beyond the turn of the calendar.

The U.S. presidential election was historically significant in a number of aspects, with notable wins for climate policy and diversity. Climate change mitigation policies have been a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris campaign.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a significant shift for so many of us. Our workplaces shifted from offices to our living rooms. Our interactions shifted from personal to digital. Our travels have shifted to staycations. All of this collective behavior change has yielded an 8.8% drop in global CO2 emissions in the first half of 2020 compared to the first half of 2019.

In our last newsletter, we highlighted some of the big sustainability commitments large corporations have been making. Over the course of the past weeks, governments around the globe have followed suit.

We’re living in a world of exceptional uncertainty. An increasing divide between the fundamentals of the economy and the performance of the market, legitimate fear and evidence of a second wave of Covid-19 cases, and a pivotal election on the horizon have made the months ahead feel as unclear as any in recent memory.

As nations design their stimulus packages for a post-pandemic world, calls for a resilient “green recovery” persist. Yet of the G20’s $330B public money commitment to the energy sector, almost half is going to the dying fossil fuel industry.

Last week the Collision Conference, one of the largest tech community gatherings in the world with 32,000 attendees, went virtual. Sustainability and climate were front and center: Kate Brandt, the Chief Sustainability Officer at Google, shared that in the 90 days leading up to Earth Day searches for “How to live sustainably” rose 4550%.

The global pandemic has caused meaningful shifts in early-stage venture capital. Fund managers that relied on traditional sourcing channels for deals and on-site diligence are struggling to adjust their funnel.

Remember all the people that used to complain all the time about being too busy? Are they the same ones that are now complaining about being stuck at home? I have come to appreciate the people that are looking for the silver lining during this COVID lockdown.

Despite everyone getting sick of hearing about COVID-19 and all the people that suddenly became part-time epidemiologists and economists, we felt it was important to share some of our thoughts.

Last month KKR announced the launch of a new $1.3B VC fund to invest in for-profits tackling climate change and Jeff Bezos committed $10B to a philanthropic fund to reduce climate change. That's a lot of money going to the right place!

Happy New Year! With 2019 coming to an end, we immediately set our sights on 2020 but first we wanted to take a moment to reflect on a number of significant milestones over the last year.