2024 Sustainable Investing Challenge
The 2024 Challenge finals were held in New York. 290 students from 44 countries submitted ideas, and their inspiring perseverance and innovation is evident in the work of the 12 final teams, which you can find below.
2024
Grand Prize
$10,000
Resilient Waters Fund (RWF)
Focusing on the impact of climate change on the Great Salt Lake (GSL), the RWF team proposed a water share system that bridges that gap between the GSL community and the government. By using existing state and federal programs in collaboration with farmers and irrigation companies, the RWF is on a mission to save the GSL, which could cease to exist in as little as five years.
University of Utah School of Business
2024
Runner Up
$5,000
Caatinga Bank
Caatinga Bank will provide an innovative, lower-risk opportunity for investors to strengthen the competitiveness of agricultural farming in the Caatinga Biome to alleviate financial and social vulnerability through the use of sustainable practices and working capital loans.
IESE Business School
2024
Third Place
$2,500
Renewable Backed Securities (RBS) Capital
RBS Capital looks to the potential of emerging and developing economies (EMDEs), as they consider both the world's financial wealth and clean energy investment commitments. Through securitization, RBS Capital will finance and reduce the cost of capital critical to scaling renewable energy adoption.
Columbia Business School
Winning Teams
Grand Prize: Resilient Waters Fund (RWF)
University of Utah, School of Business
Third Place: Renewable Backed Securities (RBS) Capital
Columbia Business School
All Finalists
Diaspora Fund for Sustainable Energy
Mohammed VI Polytechnic University
University of Colorado, Boulder
Nearshore Manufacturing ESOP Fund (NMEF)
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University