Past Finalists and Winners
The prospectuses and presentations of Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge finalists are not only a great reference for participating students, but are an evolving record of the evolution of the field of sustainable finance, and, in some cases, early iterations of what have now become successful ventures.
Click through each year below to see the prospectuses and final presentations that were deemed the strongest in that year of the competition.
University of Utah
2024 Winner
Resilient Waters Fund
The Great Salt Lake is in danger of drying up as a result of climate change and poor resource protection, including inefficient agricultural irrigation practices. This proposed fund solution would catalyze federal, state, and investment funds through a creative land trust mechanism that would utilize “water shares” to spur irrigation efficiency, responsible cropping, and water savings.
IESE School of Business, Barcelona
2024 Runner-up
Caatinga Bank
With a goal of strengthening the stability and competitiveness of small farms in the Caatinga Biome in Brazil, this group proposes to provide working capital loans, technical assistance and inputs while securing stable futures contracts for agricultural outputs.
Columbia Business School
2024 Third Place
Renewable Backed Securities (RBS) Capital
Focusing on the need for increased access to capital for clean and renewable energy in southern and central Africa and in the United States, this proposal would create asset-backed securities with geographic diversification to securitize and mobilize private capital for project development with a risk-adjusted return.
University of Melbourne, Monash University
2024 Finalist
ASEAN Green Steel Fund (AGSF)
AGSF proposes a creative linking of agricultural waste to the clean fuel needs of the steel industry in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to significantly decrease greenhouse gas emissions from both industries.
University of St. Gallen
2024 Finalist
Climate Change Resilience REIT
Climate Change Resilience REIT has identified a creative path to support financially distressed American homeowners, increase climate resilience measures and decrease climate and financial risk exposure for investors through strategic diversification.
Anderson School of Management, UCLA
2024 Finalist
Community 4 Resilience Fund
The fund would finance decentralized microgrid development in the U.S., leveraging renewable energy certifications and carbon credits, and an investment approach that combines higher- and lower-risk investment phases and harnesses homeowners’ associations as residential hubs.
Schulich School of Business, York University
2024 Finalist
Prickly Power Fund
Prickly Power Fund helps local Maasai communities in Kenya overcome capital constraints through equipment leasing and offtake agreements that use Kenyan invasive cacti to scale up biofuel and feed projects while simultaneously restoring grazing lands.