We are strategic consultants at the nexus of nature, culture, policy and finance. We design and manifest healthy and thriving planetary civilizations. We provide research, analysis, capital introduction, product design, and public relations solutions for investors, policy makers and social entrepreneurs in all asset classes. We holistically envision and design …
Fund Balance is pleased to present this event as part of of our ongoing demonstration that culture, sustainability and social enterprise provide a better organizing principle than predatory debt finance and unrestricted globalization. In the Eye of the Spiral Private Preview Screening Thursday June 14, 6PM-8PM @ The Olivia, A Stonehenge …
The partners at Fund Balance make frequent use of THE GREEN TRANSITION SCOREBOARD® (GTS) from Ethical Markets Media in our work. The GTS provides guidance to our thoughtlines leading up to the Rio +20 UN Earth Summit as well. The GTS provides fresh, incisive, and thorough analysis of the intersecting and …
WILL money saved from using clean technology simply be spent on using more energy? Jevons paradox (or the Jevons effect) is named for economist William Stanley Jevons. In the 1860’s, he observed that technologically driven increases in the efficiency of coal-use increased coal consumption in a wide range of …
By Walter Borden Green Bonds, Carbon Taxes, and Market Failures THE gathering dangers of global warming for life necessitate that humanity collapse its dependency on fossil fuel energy (FFE). Ecological fiduciary responsibility requires shifting balance from political restraint to action. The challenges of managing a drawdown of FFE’s in …
by Leland Lehrman In 2009, Fund Balance emerged from the quant hedge fund and pension world with a relatively innovative and massively underutilized investment thesis we call ESG Long Short Market Neutral. In a nutshell, our thesis is: Long: nature, sustainability, culture, and community. Short: war, pollution, fraud, and corruption. * We had determined that socially and environmentally conscious (ESG) …
By Walter Borden Science and Sustainability We at Fund Balance are concerned that the only mention of climate change in President Barack Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address was “The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate change.” …
By Walter Borden “The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.” Theodore Roosevelt What’s In a Petrodollar? Fossil Fuel producing nations should extract their resources consistent with the health needs of their people, air, land, …
Is Michael Bloomberg really getting serious about sustainability and the climate? Is the upcoming free and now completely full ESG 2011 USA event a huddle of the region’s best sustainability practitioners? We’ll be getting the scoop from Bloomberg CEO Daniel Doctoroff, and Thomas DiNapoli, Comptroller of the State of NY, …
By Walter Borden Energy and pollution salesmen extol the market value of fossil fuels underneath our land and sea based on a certain doctrine. It asserts that job creation requires prolific fossil fuel extraction, and consequently, such operations deserve taxpayer entitlements and subsidies. These operators argue further that vast sums …
The Context and Implications of American International Group vs. Bank of America by Leland Lehrman Like Godzilla and King Kong in the Japanese movies, the lawsuit between AIG and Bank of America appears set in a kind of apocalyptic timeframe with cliffhanger debt ceiling negotiations happening during record heat waves, …
“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” — John Lennon Imagination, that force which when coupled with discipline, drives the arts. Such a force is necessary to successfully protect and sustain our biosphere as it represents the best alternative to cynicism and defeatism. My work, involvement, and strong passion for …
By Walter Borden California can show Washington, where climate legislation has stalled, that [by] putting a price on carbon — you can go about it in a way that is gradual….We are on the right track. –George Schultz Summary The dynamics of green job creation are presented and analyzed …
George W. Bush signed the “Green Jobs Act of 2007” about 4 years ago. During that period, most of the presumed Republican candidates for the 2012 U.S. Presidential election actively supported some form of Cap and Trade or other policies aimed at taming global warming. Since then however, GOP climate leadership …
Does it matter if one “believes” in global warming? An ongoing development in Kentucky will sell tickets to a simulation of Noah’s Ark. The New York Times account contains the the quote: “I don’t believe in global warming…but I do believe we’ve got to be good stewards of everything God’s …
By Walter Borden In the coming months, we will hear a lot about the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party’s plans for the U.S. during the 112th Congress. No doubt we shall hear how such plans signal a new, brighter era. But do they? The principles espoused by the Tea Party …
With Proposition 23 in California defeated, the hard and important work on Cap and Trade in the United States can begin again. Advancing the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) will be critical in building a framework in North America for Cap and Trade policy. “A cap-and-trade system is a market-based mechanism …
As we reach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, some dangerous misconceptions linger from the 20th. Two of which are that global warming is not happening and that it is not primarily a man-made phenomenon. While factors such as Solar Irradiance clearly have secondary and significant …
The financial crisis that was precipitated in 2007 by structured finance (credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations et al.) parallels the Deepwater Horizon spill in important ways. And indeed, the very first credit default swap was engineered to offset Exxon’s exposure to remediation, fines and legal costs resulting from the …
Mainstream media coverage of the critical depletion of key fish populations – and the serious economic threat it represents – echoes a key refrain at Fund Balance. Time Magazine covers how climate change is warming oceans and thus reducing their ability to support life, and CNN.com has a post by …