Twelve teams are advancing to the final round of the competition, and the graduate students will present their proposals on April 25th to a group of sustainable investing professionals. Judges will choose winners with financially innovative ideas that can drive sustainability impact at scale.

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Meet the 12 finalist teams proposing innovative ways to use finance as a force for good:

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Aotearoa Altitude Fund

• Proposal: This proposed infrastructure equity fund is designed to accelerate sustainable aviation in New Zealand and beyond by investing in at-scale gasification of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) facilities.

• Schools: New York University, Columbia University

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BanglaShield Insurance Fund

• Proposal: With climate-related disasters disproportionately impacting low-income households in Bangladesh, this proposal blends concessional loans and parametric insurance to provide affordable flood resilience financing.

• School: Oxford University

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Carbon-Backed Securities

• Proposal: This proposal would aim to scale durable carbon removal by introducing a biochar-focused lending structure for the U.S. in which project loans would be repaid with carbon credits, offering developers affordable financing and enabling banks to acquire high-quality carbon offsets.

• School: Yale University

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Moroccan Desert Truffle Fund

• Proposal: Designed to formalize and scale Morocco’s desert truffle industry, this blended capital fund would seek to retain producer value and create new revenue streams while eliminating exploitative middlemen and ensuring price stability.

• School: Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Columbia University

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Fiji Future 

• Proposal: This impact bond model structured repayment mechanism backed by tourism tax revenue would strengthen Fiji’s youth and workforce by investing in teacher training, student loans, and digital learning tools in the country.

• School: Western University, University of Toronto

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Green Archipelago Fund (GAF)

• Proposal: With Indonesia’s new capital city, Nusantara, committed to full renewable-powered region, GAF seeks to channel investments through a mix of sustainable debt instruments to develop solar power ecosystem and coal phase-out.

• School: Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

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Harlem Renaissance Bond

• Proposal: Tackling urban heat and high energy costs in Harlem, this bond would finance solar green roofs to provide cooling, renewable power, and health benefits, generating returns from carbon credits, tax incentives, landlord energy efficiency agreements and health insurance outcomes based savings​.

• Schools: Columbia University 

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Musharakah Fund for Solar Powered Cold Storage

• Proposal: This proposed fund would use blended finance to develop solar-powered modular cold storage facilities for smallholder farmers to cut spoilage and stabilize farmer incomes to reduce Nigeria’s $4 billion annual post-harvest losses.

• School: Lagos Business School

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NewClear Energy Fund

• Proposal: Focused on supporting India’s energy transition to nuclear, this proposed fund would finance Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to provide low-carbon, reliable power leveraging private equity, concessional debt, and government-backed first-loss capital.

• School: University of Chicago Booth School of Business

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Pharaoh Brick Fund

• Proposal: Repurposing Egypt’s rice straw and demolition waste into low-carbon bricks, this fund would reduce pollution and landfill waste while promoting sustainable construction using a sukuk-based financing structure with revenues from brick sales, carbon credits, and government incentives​

• School: Schulich School of Business, York University

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Solar Irrigation Systems (SIS) Fund

• Proposal: Supporting smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa, this financing proposal would expand access to solar-powered irrigation by replacing high upfront costs with pay-as-you-go structures and using Renewable Energy Certificates as an additional revenue stream​.

• School: EPFL, UNIL & IMD,  London School of Economics

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Sustainable Agri-aqua Investment Fund (SAIF)

• Proposal: To address groundwater depletion in Punjab, this blended capital model would align micro-irrigation financing with pooled carbon credits and government-backed repayments linked to energy savings, crop diversification through the transition of small farmers to water-efficient practices​.

• School: Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

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