Ripple Teams With Nelnet on $44M Solar Investment

Crypto-powered digital payment service Ripple has made a $44 million joint environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment with Nelnet Renewable Energy, a unit of Nelnet (NYSE: NNI) into one of Nelnet’s solar energy funds.

• The firms said Monday that Ripple will be the majority investor in the tie-up, which will fund solar energy projects throughout the United States.
• The solar projects financed by the joint venture are estimated to offset over 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide over 35 years, or about the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions from consuming 154 million gallons of gasoline, according to the companies.
• “Guaranteeing a clean energy future is a major priority across every industry, not only to drive future economic growth but also to ensure a more sustainable world. As the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain continues to grow, it’s evident that the technology will underpin our future financial systems,” said Ken Weber, Head of Social Impact at Ripple, in a press release. The investment is part of Ripple’s “commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of financial services globally and to deliver on the promise of a carbon negative cryptocurrency industry.”
• The carbon footprint of the crypto industry is a longstanding concern, and this isn’t Ripple’s first eco-focused partnership. The company is part of the Crypto Climate Accord, with the goal of making the crypto industry run on 100% renewable energy by 2030.
• Last year, the nonprofit Energy Web launched a decentralized approach to decarbonizing the grid and tapped Ripple as its first partner.