Greening up investments: UK FinTech Sugi launches offsetting feature
By Gaia Lamperti
Green FinTech Sugi has launched a feature enabling users to offset the carbon impact of their investments, a first for UK retail investors.
As investing exclusively in low-carbon companies is not always a possibility, and many companies are still on a long-term path to reduce their carbon emissions, Sugi’s new feature lets investors take positive climate action while maintaining a diversified portfolio. Users can control how much they offset by targeting specific investments or offsetting their entire portfolio, as well as keeping track of their offset history.
“We recognise that there are a number of valid reasons for investors to have holdings in higher carbon industries, which is why we’re enabling investors to rebalance their impact through our new offsetting feature,” commented Josh Gregory, CEO and Founder of Sugi.
“Offsetting in any capacity doesn’t let companies off the hook. The pressure still remains on companies to decarbonise their operations and value chains. It does however give investors the option to take climate action now, should they wish to. It’s just one of many features we’ve got planned to make it easier for everyday investors to engage with greener investing,” he added.
The platform analyses carbon impact and temperature data for approximately 95% of the global listed equity market and tens of thousands of exchange traded funds, actively managed funds, and investment trusts.
In March, Sugi released a feature allowing users to monitor the global warming potential of their portfolios using Open Finance technology, through its partner Moneyhub. By linking their investment portfolio to the app, now users can access personalised impact data and take action towards building a greener portfolio by offsetting their footprint. The app plans to introduce a number of additional features and metrics this year
The FinTech has partnered with Ecosphere+ to offer verified carbon credits generated by forest conservation projects. The organisation + partners with a leading client base to develop innovative pathways to net zero through financing nature and represents one of the largest portfolios of forest conservation projects in the world.
The credits are accountable to a stringent internal Environmental, Social and Governance framework and certified by Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, the world’s most widely used voluntary greenhouse gas certification programme, demonstrating that emissions have been reduced and the underlying projects deliver lasting climate benefits. These credits are also verified by the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard, which certifies wider project benefits beyond emission reductions, specifically biodiversity conservation and the empowerment of local communities.
Lisa Walker, CEO of Ecosphere+, commented: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Sugi to enable greener retail investing in the UK. With the recent IPCC report exposing the true severity of the climate and biodiversity crisis, UK retail investors will increasingly be looking for ways to take immediate action on the journey to net zero. Sugi’s timely feature is therefore well placed to have an important impact on climate and nature, and we’re excited to be on this journey with them to capture new channels of finance for the carbon projects we represent.”
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