We did it! Cotswold Climate Investment gets full backing
Cotswold District Council has reached its target of £500,000 investment into its innovative programme, Cotswold Climate Investment (CCI). The CCI is Gloucestershire’s first Community Municipal investment (CMI) which allowed local people to invest directly into a greener, more sustainable and healthier future for the Cotswolds.
After its launch on 26 April, the scheme quickly gained momentum hitting 50% of its target in just over three weeks. The raise period closed, fully funded, on 16 August 2022.
Councillor Joe Harris, Leader of Cotswold District Council said: “We’re thrilled that Cotswold Climate Investment has reached its £500,000 target with over 450 investors.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to all our local backers who invested with us. Without your help, we wouldn't have reached our target.
“Responding to the challenges of the climate crisis is at the heart of everything we do, it’s one of our top priorities and we’re always looking for innovative ways to achieve this. We wanted to give our residents the opportunity to put their money to good use and help us with our ambitious target of becoming a carbon neutral district by 2045.
“The projects we have planned will help lower the carbon footprint of the Cotswolds, creating a more planet conscious District for our future generations, and we couldn’t do it without our local investors. Thank you.”
The Cotswold Climate Investment will support a range of projects, including installing publicly available off-street electric vehicle charging points (EVCPs) around the District to encourage electric vehicle take-up, and improving the energy and carbon performance of the Council’s Cirencester offices.
Local Investor Ralph Rayner said, “Climate Change science is central to my day job so I am very engaged and involved with issues relating to mitigating and adapting to the impact of climate change. Most of what I do is on a big scale, at a global level so CCI presented me with an opportunity to have an impact locally as well.
“Also, on a personal level, I drive an electric car and there aren’t that many charging points around, so any initiative I can help with to improve the infrastructure for sustainable travel has got to be a good thing. Better local infrastructure would also encourage other people to move to electric vehicles.”
The scheme is in partnership with Abundance Investment, the UK’s first and biggest regulated green investment platform.
Abundance Investment co-founder, and local resident, Bruce Davis said: "It was great to see that Cotswolds secured their full funding target for green projects despite the headwinds of market uncertainty and the cost of living crisis. It shows that people understand the urgency of the need to act on the climate emergency now - and as a local investor too I look forward to further updates as the projects progress."
For more information on Cotswold Climate Investment, please visit Cotswold District Council’s website: https://cotswold.gov.uk/cci
Contact Information
Cotswold District Council Communications Team
Notes to editors
About Abundance Investment
Abundance is a leading direct investment platform that is putting people in control of their money. People invest in individual projects that generate something good for the environment and society as well as bank-beating returns.
The investor chooses which project or business to invest in from just £5 and benefits from a financial return, while the world benefits from the growth of sustainable businesses.
Since launching in 2012, more than 7,600 people have invested over £137m directly into the projects they support via the Abundance platform, with over £51m returned to investors. In the process, Abundance has achieved a number of firsts. As well as being the world’s first FCA-regulated investment based crowdfunding company, it is also the first investment platform to offer a dedicated investment based crowdfunding SIPP and launched the UK’s first Innovative Finance ISA for renewable energy investments on November 1st 2016.
In 2020, Abundance launched the first Community Municipal Investments after working with the University of Leeds to develop new ways to allow local people to actively participate in the transition to Net Zero. These investments let people invest directly into councils, allowing them to fund the real local green projects that we need to make a big impact on the climate emergency. Abundance’s new municipal investments, launched after September 2021, are structured as peer to peer loans and are eligible to be held in an Innovative Finance ISA. Abundance’s first two municipal investments, launched in 2020 with West Berkshire and Warrington Councils, were not ISA eligible.
Abundance also became a certified B Corp in 2018; these are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
Abundance and Abundance Investment are trading names of Abundance Investment Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (no. 525432).
Visit www.abundanceinvestment.com
Follow @AbundanceInv
Risk Warning:
As with any investment, there are risks when investing on Abundance. Your invested capital is at risk and any return on your investment depends on the ability of the local authority you have invested in to pay your returns. Investments on Abundance are generally long term and you should be prepared to hold them to maturity. The investments are illiquid and you may not be able to sell them if you need your money back earlier, and their value can rise or fall. Quoted returns are no guarantee of future returns and past performance is not a guide to future performance. Specific risks will apply in relation to each investment. Please consider all risks before investing and read the Offer Document or Factsheet for each investment. The investments on Abundance include debentures or bonds (from companies) and peer-to-peer loans (from councils) - Abundance’s service in relation to peer-to-peer loans is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).