Strategic Leadership in Renewable Energy Investments
About us
Commonweal Capital Management LLC serves as the General Partner (GP) of renewable energy investment funds, overseeing fund governance and ensuring alignment with our investors' goals.
Commonweal Capital Management LLC team members have managed $4 billion in real assets in Brazil and $200 million in solar PV assets in the United Kingdom and the European Union (individual biographies below).
Operational Team
Fernanda Barbosa is a Civil Engineer graduated from Unicamp, with a postgraduate degree in Financial Management from Insper, an MBA in Finance from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass Business School) at City, University of London, and a specialization in Sustainable Finance from the University of Cambridge.
Fernanda has 7 years of experience on the buy-side in Private Equity Real Estate, managing alternative assets valued at around $4 billion, including with Autonomy Investimentos and Hines. She also has experience in the European market, having worked with startups and led a pilot investment project for a family office in Italy.
Steven Hyland holds a PhD from Ohio State University and a Masters in Finance from Harvard Business School. He currently serves as Enterprise Sustainability Solutions Architect at UL Solutions. An award-winning author, Steven’s expertise spans international migration to Latin America, energy transitions, capital markets, and sustainability.
Steven has successfully launched sustainable ventures, including Commonweal Advisors LLC, where he worked with high-profile clients like the Pan-American Development Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank. His work has helped shape sustainability strategies and green finance initiatives at the executive level.
Board Members
Douglas Prentice holds an MA in Economics from Edinburgh University and an MSc in Energy and the Environment. He has been involved in carbon trading since 2005 and in renewable energy project development since 2010. He co-founded and directed the Edinburgh Community Solar Cooperative which was set up in 2013 to rent school roofs from the city council, install solar panels on them and sell the electricity to the council on a 20-year fixed price contract. When at Geocapita, he financed, installed and now owns and operates solar panels on blocks of flats in East London with the Poplar Housing and Regeneration Association.
Douglas has delivered training courses to the Nigerian Hydro Company and the Niger Basin Authority, advised UNEP Paris on solar minigrids in Africa, and participated in reforestation and community energy access projects in Nigeria. He is currently advising on solar manufacturing in Switzerland and Texas, U.S.A.
Travis Knoll has a PhD in History from Duke University and Masters in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He has eight years' experience in business strategy, communications, and project management with a focus on sustainability and ESG, and seven years' experience in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion research experience. Travis has worked with clients including RTI International, the State Department, the Pan-American Development Foundation, and Brazilian and Latin American civil and human rights advocacy organizations. At RTI, he managed a $5 million program catalyzing research on climate change, and other topics. He has published in Ecosystem Marketplace, Huffington Post, Sustainable Views (Financial Times) and the Washington Post. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.
Nick Hopmann has 20+ years on the sell-side in Institutional Sales & Trading, leading Global Strategy teams at Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets and Credit Suisse. Leveraging his experience and knowledge of a varied set of Capital Markets businesses, Nick works across all asset classes with particular emphasis on Sales & Trading positions as well as Business Management/Strategy/Operations roles.
John Palmisano has a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Maryland. He has over 35 years of experience in the tradable environmental and energy asset markets. He pioneered the first emissions trading programs for the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1976; created the first emissions credit brokerage firm (AER*X) in the United States; developed environmental auditing programs and environmental management systems; set up emission brokerage and representative offices in Moscow, Kiev, Hong Kong, London and Washington; and created the first emissions trading business at Enron Corp.
John has authored technical papers for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United Nations, World Bank, and the US Congress as well as the environmental agencies of Russia, Ukraine, and Canada. He established four NGO’s promoting emissions trading and sustainable development in Europe and North America. He has also advised law firms, oil/natural gas and power companies, green energy firms, green funds, and trade associations on environmental and energy trading.
Investment Strategy
We manage investment vehicles that acquire and develop high-quality distributed generation solar PV projects across Brazil and Latin America. Our focus is on long-term value creation through disciplined investment oversight and strategic asset management.
