Forbright Bank’s Latest Deal Shows Just How Broad Climate Funding Can Be

I have been a keen observer, advisor and investor in the climate space for many years. I am a believer that the lowest hanging fruit in our decarbonization efforts revolve around investments related to energy generation through the replacement of our oil and gas sector with wind, water and solar facilities. I recognize that others believe that the great frontiers are in areas like heat pumps or electric vehicles or the "electrify everything" movement that will require a more robust electricity infrastructure involving batteries and distributed storage.

Every once in a while I am reminded that this climate battle that we are entering has multiple other fronts. During COP28, the US's Environmental Protection Agency finally acted to slash methane emissions, since such emissions are contributing greatly to our warming planet. Even though most methane is dispersed into the atmosphere through active or uncapped hydrocarbon extraction, there are many other sources.

Forbright Bank had already caught our attention at BestCashCow when we named it the first US Sustainable Bank last month.  Today, Forbright detailed its financing for Divert, a company that has established an anaerobic digestion system that addresses food waste issues, capturing and repurposing methane gas that would otherwise be released from this waste.

The Divert financing employs a project finance structure through which Divert subsidiary is funded to operate and expand its operations across the country. 

With this financing, Forbright is not only expanding into still more areas of sustainability, but is also using innovative and more flexible structures for borrowers seeking fast expansion with their climate-addressing solutions.

This video about Divert and the Forbright loan is quite informative:

It is my hope that other US financial institutions will now begin to act quickly and decisively with innovative financing structures that enable broad buildouts of sustainable projects that are needed to address the climate crisis.