Celebrating CoPower

Five years of investing in Canada’s clean energy future

We’re winding down our retail fundraising model as we complete our integration with Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB), but we couldn’t say goodbye to CoPower Green Bonds without one last look at the everything our community of investors has achieved.

Highlights from our Impact Report

Investing to cut carbon

Together, we’ve helped finance hundreds of clean energy and energy efficiency projects that are having a measurable, positive impact on the planet.

25,320

CUMULATIVE TONNES OF CO2 AVOIDED

5,507

CARS OFF THE ROAD FOR ONE YEAR

Changing the system

Greater than the impact of any one loan has been our catalytic work to enable and co-create innovative business models to accelerate the net-zero transition.

Taking CoPower’s mission mainstream

With our team’s support, clean energy lending has become a major focus at VCIB. We’re also supporting the Vancity Group’s climate commitments including a target of achieving net-zero emissions across all loans and mortgages by 2040.

var tag = document.createElement(‘script’);
tag.src = “https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api”;
var firstScriptTag = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0];
firstScriptTag.parentNode.insertBefore(tag, firstScriptTag);
var player;
function onYouTubeIframeAPIReady() {
player = new YT.Player(‘player’, {
height: ‘365’,
width: ‘527’,
videoId: ‘votuE0XRZv4’,
});
}

Download the Impact Report

A snapshot of our work

	2016	2021
Total green bond $ raised for clean energy	$300K	$23.4M
Total number of investors	36	754
Total number of loans made	4	20
Total number of projects supported	172	1754

VCIB Clean Energy Financing

CoPower’s clean energy financing services are now offered through VCIB. Learn how we can help you find innovative solutions to get your unique clean energy and energy efficiency projects off the ground, built and scaled.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was CoPower?

CoPower was a sustainable investment company and a leading provider of financing to clean energy and energy efficiency projects. CoPower’s unique green bond model connected individual retail investors with clean energy and energy efficiency projects seeking financing.

What is the relationship between CoPower and VCIB?

In 2019, VCIB acquired CoPower as a wholly owned subsidiary. In 2021, as part of ongoing integration efforts, the decision was made to winddown CoPower’s green bond fundraising model and transition its clean energy lending business to VCIB.

Why was the decision made to winddown the CoPower Green Bond model?

The CoPower Green Bond model relied on the ‘spread’ between the interest rate charged on the clean energy project loans and the rate paid to green bond investors to cover operating costs associated with fundraising, lending, and managing the portfolio, technology, and investors. A continuing low-rate environment made it increasingly challenging to lend to great projects and issue private bonds at competitive rates while making those economics work.

Through this integration, VCIB’s clean energy team can continue to lend to projects at a lower cost of capital than was possible through CoPower. This is ultimately a positive thing, as a competitive clean energy finance market where projects can benefit from low interest rates will accelerate the transition to net-zero.

Where can I find other responsible and impact investment opportunities?

There are some great options available through the Vancity Group, which has been a leader in the space for many years. If you are investing on behalf of an organization or through a corporate entity, you can consider investing VCIB Impact GICs, which directly support the bank’s lending to impactful businesses, social purpose real estate, and clean energy projects. If you are an individual investor in Ontario, Alberta or BC, we would be happy to connect you to a wealth planner, wealth advisor or portfolio manager at Vancity Investment Management.

For a list of other impact investment products, check out openimpact.ca. The RIA marketplace is another good resource for a broad range of responsible investment products, as well as investment professionals who specialize in helping investors align their portfolios with their values.

Vancity Community Investment Bank is a member of CDIC and is a Certified B Corp^TM