residential solar installation
Patagonia had already created a fund called $20 Million and Change to help start-up companies focused on solving environmental and other issues. Two years ago, through $20 Million and Change, the company formed a $27 million fund with Kina’ole Capital, a solar finance company, to install 1, 000 residential systems in Hawaii.
Now, Patagonia is again working with Kina’ole, as well as New Resource Bank, Beneficial State Bank and the installer Sungevity, all certified B corporations. Such companies are part of a growing approach that requires executives to take into account not just how decisions will affect profit and shareholders, but also how they will affect the public, generally defined as society or the environment.
“We all recognized that the B-corp relationship created a kind of mutual interest in the business and the social and environmental side of how we run our businesses. That naturally led to a conversation that became this deal, ” said Andrew Birch, chief executive of Sungevity. “This is a new name providing new funding for the solar sector, and that’s very important.”
The systems will be available in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
An earlier version of this article misstated the incorporation category of Patagonia’s partners in the solar installation fund. Only Patagonia is a benefit corporation, a legal status available in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Its partners are certified B corporations. Both corporate approaches require executives to take public benefits into account in business decisions.
