Our purpose
A defined
mission:
Transform the financial system into a force for creating a more just, equitable, and regenerative world.
A clear vision:
A future in which all businesses, organizations, & individuals leverage their banking and investing to drive environmental and social progress.
Our focused approach:
Research
Conduct pioneering research illuminating the hidden link between finances and climate.
Advocate
Raise global awareness about these critical, misunderstood, and overlooked issues.
“Tackling climate change is contingent upon changing the financial system and ensuring it is aligned with maintaining a livable planet for generations to come.”
– James Vaccaro,
Climate Sale Lending Network, Executive Director
Build
Create the data, tools, and solutions for organizations and individuals to utilize their finances for positive change.
Scale
Make everything we do accessible for everyone, today, for the good of tomorrow.
The challenges we uncovered
While the fossil fuel industry is widely regarded as the engine fueling climate change and environmental injustice, the invisible hand of these crises is the financial sector, which is responsible for underwriting much of the world’s past, present, and planned environmental destruction.
ideitnigyinmg needs
paths to make progress
Our best strategy for driving this transformation is for the global community of responsible companies, organizations, and individuals to leverage their trillions of dollars of carbon-intensive cash and investments as an unprecedented force for forging climate progress.
Let’s so something together or another phrase
highly carbon-intensive economic activities. As a result, the financial system represents an overlooked force critical in determining whether we continue to develop a future that locks in billions of tons of carbon emissions for decades to come, OR, locks in cumulative emissions reductions required for the stability of our planet.
The final statement that sets up the next “story” section
The opportunities we didnt know how to solve
Despite its anti-environmental history, the financial sector represents our best hope for mitigating climate change because it can transition trillions of dollars away from financing this crisis and redirect this money into a historic investment in creating a clean, just, and resilient world.
where we see this going in the future
Together we can:
Invest trillions of dollars in businesses that will mitigate climate change.
Phase out the hundreds of billions of dollars banks lend every year to the industries and projects driving climate change.
Leverage banks lending power to decarbonize the global economy.
Exposing and transforming the world’s most important climate lever, finances, will never be easy.
How did we get here?
In 2021, Topo Finance did some work that needs to be simple, one sentence, and typed here. We uncovered through their lending and investing power, that banks play an immensely powerful and unchecked role in shaping the world, specifically the environment.
Put simply, banks finance our future through their very business model: taking day-to-day cash flows (aka the money we all deposit) and lending it to a wide array of
The financial sector’s impact and potential by the numbers
Lorum Ipsum It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
In order to make progress, me must all work with aligned values
A Fundamental Right
The financial sector is on track to fund carbon emissions well beyond the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, which scientists say is required to maintain a safe planet. This is largely attributed to X number of carbon intensive sectors having accesses to seemingly limitless cash for future growth.
Topo Finance’s values are fundamental to our success. Given the inherently difficult nature of the projects we undertake, the path to success is always long, arduous, and replete with unexpected twists and turns. However, our values serve as a moral compass and guiding light that ensure we effectively and ethically navigate the complex nature of our work.
Be a Humble Trailblazer
Forging seismic impact progress requires challenging conventional approaches, taking risks, and blazing new trails through complex terrain. The only way to ensure these trails reach our desired destination is to be humble, embrace change, and employ inclusive design.
Seek Seismic Impact
Guaranteeing this right requires developing seismic solutions that meet the scale of this challenge. We have the power to create these solutions, but to do so we must think long-term and take a systemic approach that addresses the root causes of these problems.
Practice Resilient Optimism
The long-term, systemic challenges we seek to solve require embarking on grueling journeys. To succeed, we must have immense grit, a passion for adventure, and the resilient optimism that we can overcome any challenge, no matter how insurmountable it may seem.
Be an Activating Service
All people, organizations, and businesses can be agents of progress, but to unlock this power we must meet these individuals and entities where they are and equip them with the powerful tools they need to drive change.
Succeed Together
To successfully navigate the myriad generational challenges facing society and the planet, we must set aside our differences and short-term interests, unite around our shared values, employ deep empathy, and work together to build a better future.