FoundHer Investing in a Greener Future 🌿🌍💚📈
Hello CWBS!
Happy October! I’m thrilled to announce that CWBS has launched an application tracker featuring a wide variety of internships and programs. The spreadsheet will be updated weekly to help you stay on top of opportunities!
I am incredibly excited to share this month’s issue of The Scope featuring Bonnie Gurry. Bonnie is the CEO and Co-Founder of Green Portfolio, a climate fintech company that helps everyone fight climate change with their financial decisions by scoring investments and bank accounts for climate impact.
Hope you enjoy reading!
Best,
Alexandra Ouzounian, Platform & Outreach Chair, 2024-2025
LVMH SELLS OFF-WHITE: LVMH has sold the streetwear brand Off-White, founded by the late Virgil Abloh, to Bluestar Alliance, a brand management company (known for owning brands including Hurley, Justice, and Bebe). The deal comes nearly three years after Abloh's death, and LVMH highlighted Bluestar as the ideal partner to continue Off-White’s creative momentum. Read More.
UK PLEDGES £27.1BN FOR CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE PROJECTS: The UK government has pledged £27.1bn over 25 years to support its first carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, including two undersea carbon storage sites and pipelines with the capacity to store over 8.5mn tons of carbon dioxide per year combined. It also includes carbon capture at three planned projects to produce hydrogen, power, and energy-from-waste. Read More.
QATAR AIRWAYS AGREES TO BUY STAKE IN VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: Qatar Airways has agreed to purchase a 25% stake in Virgin Australia from Bain Capital, with plans to eventually publicly list the airline. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, will strengthen Virgin Australia's ability to compete with Qantas and support its return to long-haul flights by 2025. Read More.
WOMAN OF THE SCOPE - spotlighting members of The Scope Community
“My name is Mariana Reyes. I spent my last summer working in consulting at BCG in their New York City Office. I would recommend exploring consulting to people who want fast-growth, great exit opportunities, and are still exploring what industry they would like to focus in long-term. My advice is to start with the recruitment process early so that you have time to network and practice for case interviews without burning out. I would also recommend you to not go through the recruitment process alone! Partner with other people so that you can case each other. If you are a sophomore, do not forget to apply to diversity programs.” - Mariana Reyes
“One of the most important lessons we have learned is to trust market data and to seek out advice from people who have a depth of knowledge in what you are building. There are many generalists who can indeed be helpful, but it is important to listen to your gut and to know when to just go heads down and build.”
- Bonnie Gurry
Bonnie Gurry is the CEO and Co-Founder of GreenPortfolio, a climate fintech company that helps everyone fight climate change with their financial decisions by scoring investments and bank accounts for climate impact. With 17+ years of climate leadership experience, Bonnie has held the positions of North American Clean Energy Lead at BASF and Renewable Energy Resources and Technology Engineer at the New York Power Authority. As a well-respected technologist and leader, Bonnie was awarded her first patent at the age of 17 and recently led market and financial research at Pirque. She earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Caltech, and an M.B.A. from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Can you share when and how you first became interested in ESG issues and climate action? Was there a specific moment or experience that inspired you to focus your career on making a positive impact on the planet?
Like many others of my generation, I have never known a time when climate change wasn’t an incredibly pressing issue. Though I originally began my career in finance and then engineering, I quickly realized that I wanted to devote my career to tackling this important issue. Since then, I have been working on projects, initiatives, and services, like GreenPortfolio, that contribute to climate solutions.
GreenPortfolio aims to help individuals make climate-friendly financial decisions. Can you explain how the idea for GreenPortfolio was conceived?
As my career progressed, I began to see that how investments are allocated today directly impacts the future we and our children will encounter tomorrow. I too wanted to make sure that my money was contributing to a future that does not put our environment in danger. Unfortunately, finding trustworthy information about your finances and their environmental impact can be very challenging. Between misleading marketing and a lack of clear resources, making informed decisions about investments felt overwhelming. GreenPortfolio was launched to fill the void and simplify the research around climate-aligned investing. We aim to deliver your climate baseline by assessing your portfolio with our proprietary climate ratings of publicly traded stocks and funds, and then resources to continue your research on your own or match you with a financial advisor if you’d prefer to partner with an expert.
You earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Caltech. How has your education in engineering contributed to your approach to founding and leading GreenPortfolio?
My co-founder and I are both engineers and tend to be quite practical in our approach to building and running a company. We spend real time and effort understanding the pain point for our customers before designing a solution. We take a systems approach to the problems we are digging into, as well as the solutions we are providing. This has been fundamental to how we have created and run our GreenPortfolio.
How does GreenPortfolio differentiate itself from other ESG or sustainable investing platforms, particularly in terms of its approach to avoiding greenwashed products?
A key differentiator in our methodology is that our proprietary models focus on what affects climate change instead of all factors classified under ESG (environment, social, governance). After analyzing ESG ratings, we determined that they don’t always align with climate impact since other areas, such as industry, could be weighted more strongly. So for us, in order to create ratings that were easier to understand, we focused more on data points that directly relate to climate change, like emissions.
Another big difference that is sometimes overlooked is that GreenPortfolio is for individuals rather than businesses or institutions. Building useful services for consumers focused on greening their finances was our priority. Whether you’re looking for a climate-friendly bank or trying to find a financial advisor who cares about your value, we realized that everyone could use a service that thoroughly vets companies and advisors so they can find partners that center climate in their financial services.
The landscape of ESG investing is rapidly evolving. How do you see this space changing in the next five years?
The generational shift in wealth is going to have a profound impact on the investing landscape over the next five years. Millennials are due to inherit over $70 trillion in wealth and fundamentally manage their money differently than previous generations. We want to align our money with our values, especially climate impact, and we are willing to pay more for investment management than older generations. This creates an environment ripe for innovation that supports climate forward financial products and services. We expect to see more options across the financial landscape for millennials who are climate conscious.
How do you think technological advancements like AI will shape the future of climate fintech, and what role do you see GreenPortfolio playing in that evolution?
As the cost of implementing computing models and AI tools continues to drop as functionality improves, it will allow for more bespoke specialized services in the climate fintech space. GreenPortfolio is one of these services. We are registered with the SEC to algorithmically match our clients with financial advisors who manage investments with climate as a focus. Many of the advisors in our network are working to incorporate more and more AI enhanced tools into their workstream to allow them to provide individualized services to their clients.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently in the early stages of developing GreenPortfolio?
The start-up ecosystem is full of advice, mentorship, and opinions - often from people who don’t know your customer, industry, or business. One of the most important lessons we have learned is to trust market data and to seek out advice from people who have a depth of knowledge in what you are building. There are many generalists who can indeed be helpful, but it is important to listen to your gut and to know when to just go heads down and build.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your journey as the CEO of GreenPortfolio?
Building the GreenPortfolio team and assisting our clients in their financial journeys have been the most rewarding part of building GreenPortfolio. It’s invigorating to see how so many people share in our mission to fight climate change through financial decision making. All of us at GreenPortfolio feel privileged to be part of this movement and look forward to the continuing impact that we will have in this space.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs looking to start a business in the climate tech or fintech space?
Look to join communities and spaces which can support you in your journey as an entrepreneur. Other entrepreneurs will be the ones who will help you grow your business and understand the daily ups and downs of starting something from scratch. Columbia’s community, in particular, has been instrumental in GreenPortfolio’s journey.
Quick Takes:
1. Favorite class you took at Columbia?
MechE Senior Design was such an important part of my undergraduate journey!
2. Best resource to learn more about climate change.
3. Who’s an entrepreneur you admire?
Sallie Krawcheck
Check Out The Scope Podcast! ⭐️
Thanks for reading CWBS: The Scope! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.