Impact the Future

Karner Blue Capital (KBC) manages institutional and retail investor assets targeting above benchmark returns by investing in publicly-traded companies with a focus on biodiversity, climate change, environmental stewardship and animal welfare.

KBC is a woman-owned enterprise, an SEC-registered investment adviser, a Certified B Corporation and a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and the UN Finance for Biodiversity Pledge.

Investing in the Future

The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Risks Perception Survey found that the top 5 most likely economic risks over the next ten years are environmental. Scientists estimate that 1 million of Earth’s 8 million animal and plant species are currently threatened, and one third of the total species extinction risk to date has arisen in the last 25 years.

The financial sector holds great power to steer companies toward sound biodiversity practices. Financial institutions can influence the policies and procedures of companies, altering their behavior and consequent impact on the environment.

Traditional socially-responsible managers implement negative screening, or the exclusion of “sin stocks.” According to the EdHec Risk Institute, only 25% of investment professionals prefer this method, while 45% of investment professionals are seeking a positive screening approach that favors best-in-class companies.

Through its innovative investment products and services, KBC seeks to galvanize positive action, foster corporate environmental responsibility and enhance biodiversity preservation.

A New Approach

KBC investment strategies are available to clients through separately managed accounts and the Karner Blue Biodiversity Impact mutual fund. Our portfolios are managed using a Quality at a Reasonable Price investment approach, which assesses companies based on growth, profitability, valuation and balance sheet metrics.

We further engage in targeted advocacy and corporate engagement strategies that seek to positively shape corporate decisions impacting the sustainability of nature.

From the Ground Up

The KBC investment research process combines its proprietary biodiversity research framework with bottom-up, fundamental financial analysis to promote impact through investment in forward-looking companies.

KBC has identified 16 industries that have material biodiversity, environmental, and animal welfare impacts. 
 

KBC’s proprietary biodiversity research process provides a qualitative assessment of a company’s biodiversity impacts using industry-specific research models. Each industry model is comprised of key performance indicators that enable the calculation of a KBC Impact Score for each company.

All companies with a KBC Impact Score above the industry mean are eligible for inclusion in KBC’s investable universe.

Companies that do not operate in a high impact industry are also evaluated for their biodiversity contributions and financial opportunities.

KBC also employs several portfolio risk mitigation strategies including evaluation of corporate controversies and liquidity screens at the time of purchase and on an ongoing basis.

KBC then employs fundamental financial analysis to rank companies in each industry using metrics that assess potential stock price outperformance, including past growth, profitability, balance sheet health and current valuation.

KBC scores and ranks selected companies to determine their financial prospects relative to each other. After additional security research, KBC makes final selections for the portfolio and determines the weight of each portfolio constituent.

Traction & Accomplishments

KBC has developed and launched 11 separately managed accounts since 2018. In 2019, the Karner Blue Biodiversity Impact Fund was launched and is available to investors directly from the Fund’s underwriter and through several well-known investment platforms.

KBC manages approximately $8.0 million, virtually all of which is invested in the Karner Blue Biodiversity Impact Fund. Investors in the Fund include high net-worth individuals, non-profit organizations, corporations and retail investors.

Our Story

Karner Blue Capital was founded in 2017 by two former executives of Calvert Investments, Inc., Vicki Benjamin and Andrew Niebler.

Following a review of the impact investing landscape, the team saw a need for a dedicated investment strategy to address the hidden crisis of biodiversity loss.  They decided to build a pioneering organization with a singular mission – seeking to impact nature and deliver competitive financial returns through investments in industry-leading, publicly-traded companies committed to biodiversity preservation, environmental protection and animal welfare.

With half of the global GDP moderately or highly dependent upon ecosystem services, the founders realized that investments in these areas were investments in both human welfare and the pursuit of economic prosperity.

Vicki and Andrew conceptualized an investment strategy that would identify and invest in biodiversity leaders, creating a triple bottom line beyond existing ESG approaches while seeking to simultaneously deliver strong financial outperformance.

Our Team

Vicki L. Benjamin, CPA | Vicki is a co-founder and President of KBC. She has served as the CEO since 2017 and is a member of the Investment Committee.  She was previously CFO and later president of Calvert Investments, Inc. She was a partner at KPMG from 2005-2015.

Andrew K. Niebler, JD | Andrew is a co-founder of KBC and has served as its Executive VP, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer since 2017. He is also a member of the Investment Committee.  He was previously Senior VP and General Counsel at Calvert Investments, Inc. 

Robert Baumbach, CFA | Robert is a member of the Investment Committee. He was previously an equity research analyst at Standard and Poor’s Corporation, Vice President and Equity Research Analyst at Putnam Investments and Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Babson Capital Management.

Lise S. Bernhard | Lise serves as Vice President of Portfolio Management and Operations. She was Calvert’s Director of Investment Operations and Performance, manager of Calvert Responsible Indexes and Calvert’s Senior Performance Analyst.

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