Ripple, the creator of the XRP token and known by many in the crypto space as the ‘bankers coin,’ just announced a strategic ESG investment with Nelnet Renewable Energy to the tune of $44 million, into one of Nelnet’s solar energy investment funds.
According to the press release, the joint investment, which is majority funded by Ripple will fund solar energy projects throughout the U.S. in support of the transition to a cleaner and more stable energy future.
As the U.S. transitions towards a zero-carbon future, investments in solar power projects could not come at a better time, especially with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Futures Study projection that 45% of all energy in the U.S. could be produced by solar by 2050.
About Nelnet
Nelnet is a publicly-traded diversified financial services and technology company focused on offering educational services, technology solutions, professional services, telecommunications, and asset management. Nelnet has over $20 billion in assets and services over $500 billion in loan assets.
Nelnet Renewable Energy is the company’s renewable energy investment, management, and development business. It is a leading tax equity investor and asset manager in distributed generation solar projects.
In March 2021, Nelnet earned an E1 ESG rating from S&P Global Ratings on one of their earlier clean energy funds, receiving high scores on transparency, environment and governance. E1 is the highest possible ESG rating in the S&P Global rating system and likely marks the first of many for Nelnet’s clean energy funds.
The partnership
The announcement also states that “The solar projects financed by the Ripple Nelnet Renewable Energy Fund are estimated to offset over 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide over 35 years, which is the equivalent amount of CO2 emissions from consuming 154 million gallons of gasoline.”
This announcement comes months after the IEA released a road map for the global energy sector to become net-zero by 2050.
The partnership is Ripple’s latest initiative to help build a carbon-neutral future for global finance. Ripple is part of the Crypto Climate Accord, a private sector-led initiative focused on decarbonizing cryptocurrencies and making the crypto industry 100% renewable by 2030.
What they are saying
Ken Weber, Head of Social Impact at Ripple stated, “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.”
Despite the case with the SEC, ripple is still able to establish partnerships and create initiatives. Before this, ripple launched a $250 million fund for creators, marketplaces and brands to explore new use cases for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its ledger, XRPL.
Ripple’s native token is trading at $1.11, down 4.84% for the day, while Nelnet is trading at $82.84, down 0.20% at market close yesterday.
