Prime Coalition and Rho Impact Unveil New Open-Access Tool to Assess Impact Potential of Climate Technologies
SAN FRANCISCO , May 01 /Businesswire/ - Prime Coalition and Rho Impact unveiled the new CRANE tool during a San Francisco Climate Week (SFCW) panel discussion last week. For climate-conscious impact investors who are interested in more than returns, the free, open-access tool will be an important resource to help assess the emissions impact potential of emerging climate technologies.
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Panelists listen to questions from the audience during the CRANE tool launch event. Left to right: Alicia Seiger, Gilman Callsen, Jean Shia, Samantha McCafferty, Sarah Kearney, and Keri Browder on screen. (Photo: Business Wire)
CRANE is the product of a partnership between Prime Coalition, a nonprofit on a mission to unlock catalytic capital and change the future of climate finance, and the Charlottesville, Virginia-based climate data science firm Rho Impact. While in public beta testing over the past year, the CRANE tool accrued over 4,000 users. The newly unveiled tool was upgraded to align with pre-investment methodology guidance developed by Project Frame, a nonprofit program convened by Prime Coalition with a mission to mitigate climate change by demystifying climate investing and improving impact measurement and management, in partnership with 45 leading climate investors, advisors, and thought leaders.
“There is an undeniable need for tools and resources that enable investors to prioritize climate impacts and make smarter investments,” said Keri Browder, Director of Project Frame and Impact Accountability at Prime Coalition. “We are working to reduce the barrier for entry so any investor has the ability to consider emissions impact prior to deploying their capital.”
Taking into account the challenges around data validation and aggregation, the goal of the web-based application is to greatly reduce the time and resources required for the climate-curious, investors, entrepreneurs, government agencies, incubators, and philanthropists to perform forward-looking, rigorous, and transparent emissions impact assessments.
“I am incredibly proud of our collaboration on the CRANE tool, which embodies our commitment to transforming rigorous methodologies into accessible, practical tools for the climate community,” said Gilman Callsen, CEO of Rho Impact. “By consistently applying best practices through software, we're helping to ensure that valuable insights don't remain confined to academic papers but are actively driving forward global climate action.”
The SFCW launch and panel discussion was led by climate thought leaders, Alicia Seiger, Managing Director of Stanford University’s Sustainable Finance Initiative at Precourt Institute for Energy, Samantha McCafferty, Associate Director of Harvard Management Company, which manages the largest university endowment on record at $50B, Jean Shia, Managing Director of the Autodesk Foundation, Alison Smart, Executive Director at Probable Futures, and Sarah Kearney, Executive Director of Prime Coalition.
About Prime Coalition:
Prime Coalition is a non-profit organization on a mission to unlock catalytic capital and change the future of climate finance. Since 2015, Prime has mobilized over $300MM in catalytic capital in partnership with over 360 philanthropic partners to back 32 early-stage ventures. Through its steering capital strategy, including Prime Impact Fund, Azolla Ventures and Trellis Climate, Prime builds and implements impact-first investing teams toward acute gaps in climate finance that commercial capital cannot fill. With its influencing capital strategy, Prime offers a range of field-building resources, including Project Frame, the open-source CRANE tool, and the Catalytic Capital Intermediation Resources Library. For more information, visit: www.primecoalition.org or email: press@primecoalition.org.
About Project Frame:
Project Frame is a nonprofit program, convened by Prime Coalition, purpose-built to organize investors around forward-looking emissions impact methodology and reporting best practices. Its mission is to mitigate climate change by demystifying climate investing and improving Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) to drive capital towards the best possible climate solutions while galvanizing a network around transparency, accountability and collaboration. As of January 2024, the Project Frame community is 884 members strong, including 340 investment firms, representing $471.8B in venture and private equity assets under management. For more information, visit projectframe.how or email impact@primecoalition.org.
About Rho Impact:
Rho Impact builds software and data products that model the future impact of new climate solutions. Rho helps investors rapidly assess climate solutions and assists innovators in communicating their impact to investors and customers. Using the world’s most authoritative sources, Rho’s tools calculate potential climate impacts of new technologies under different scenarios and scaling options, directing stakeholders to the most viable and promising solutions. To learn more about Rho Impact's products and services, visit https://rhoimpact.com.
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