• All the investment of Ripple’s Clean Energy Fund will go towards funding solar projects in the United States.
• The Fund plans to offset 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 over the next 35 years.

Several big companies across the globe are taking initiatives catering to the environmental-social-governance (ESG) theme. San Francisco-based blockchain startup Ripple is undertaking a similar initiative by partnering with Nelnet Renewable energy.

On Monday, October 11, Ripple announced a $44 million Clean Energy Fund through a joint investment with Nelnet. All the money shall go into Nelnet’s solar energy investment fund. Besides, the goal is to move towards a cleaner and sustainable future with the funds directed to several solar energy projects in the United States.

This is the latest effort from Ripple towards building a carbon-neutral future for global finance. Crypto is already a part of the Crypto Climate Accord. This is a private sector-led initiative focused on decarbonizing crypto with the crypto industry planning a 100 percent renewable shift by 2030. While speaking of this development, Ken Weber, Head of Social Impact at Ripple said:

Guaranteeing a clean energy future is a major priority across every industry, not only to drive future economic growth but also to ensure a more sustainable world. As the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain continues to grow, it’s evident that the technology will underpin our future financial systems.

We’re excited to work with Nelnet as we pursue our commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of financial services globally and to deliver on the promise of a carbon negative cryptocurrency industry.

Ripple energy fund offsetting 1.5 million tonnes of CO2

With this new investment in place, Ripple is also setting up an ambitious target for itself. The solar projects financed through Ripple Nelnet Renewable Energy Fund will offset an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide (CO2) over the next 35 years. this is equivalent to emissions coming from consuming 154 million gallons of gasoline.

Thus, the Ripple initiative will also help the U.S. in moving towards a carbon-neutral future. On the other hand, Nelnet is accelerating measures to move towards a clean energy future. Back in March 2021, Nelnet secured the E1 ESG rating from S&P Global Ratings on one of their earlier clean energy funds. E1 is also the highest possible ESG rating in the S&P Global rating system. Further speaking of the development, Scott Gubbels, Executive Director of Nelnet Renewable Energy said:

We are thrilled to have a best-in-class investor platform that enables us to work with investors like Ripple to further our effort toward advancing clean energy generation within the U.S. Investments like these help create jobs, provide cost-competitive energy to the market, and promote sustainability for years to come.

Recently, blockchain startup ripple has undertaken several such initiatives. Earlier this month, Ripple announced its $2 million Creator Fund dedicated to NFT development. This was in addition to the $250-million fund for building the NFT community on the XRP Ledger.