Thursday 8 June 2023

Inaugural $1.5bn fund for net zero closes

Investment firm Just Climate has announced its inaugural fund has closed and has raised $1.5 billion (£1.2bn) to enhance net zero aims.

It exceeded its original target by $500 million (£401m) and will invest the fund into energy, industry, mobility and buildings to reduce carbon emissions.

So far investments made by Just Climate include electric vehicle charging with ABB, cutting the carbon footprint of steel with H2 Green Steel and the technology produced by renewable energy firm Meva Energy.

Investors in the fund vary from asset management businesses to pension schemes and insurers based across the world.

Chief Investment Officer of Just Climate, Shaun Kingsbury, said: “More than 50% of the world’s emissions come from the hard-to-abate industries. Without radical and urgent changes to the way that the financial sector approaches the decarbonisation challenge in these industries, which are the building blocks of our economy, there will be no net zero by 2050.

“Proven, transformational climate solutions are being developed to decarbonise the industrial sectors. With the right investment support, we believe they can scale rapidly to achieve better gross margins, a lower cost of capital and widespread market adoption.”