Asset manager BlackRock Inc. announced today that it raised more than $250 million for its Climate Finance Partnership Fund. The asset manager also mentioned plans to invest this fund in some select countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The company said that its Climate Finance Partnership scheme aims at raising $500 million, and is geared towards funding projects that are in areas relating to renewable energy, alternative power generation, energy storage solutions, electrified transportation services.
According to the company, its Climate Finance Partnership is made up of ten investors that include the governments of Japan through Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), France through the French Development Agency (AFD), Germany Through KfW Development Bank (KfW), institutional investors, philanthropists, etc. The company also emphasized the fact that huge amounts of capital were needed to fund climate infrastructures in the selected regions to aid cut down on carbon emissions. The Grantham Environmental Trust and Quadrivium Foundation are some of the notable bodies that are part of the partnership.
Together, the aforementioned organizations committed $112.5 million in catalytic capital. This catalytic capital is being used to mobilize a wider institutional capital raise, starting with commitments from Dai-chi Life Insurance, Standard Chartered Bank, and MUFG Bank which are also institutional investors in the Climate Finance Partnership.
The Chief Executive Officer of the French Development agency – Remy Rioux, while speaking about the partnership prioritized Africa. “This ambitious partnership will help redirect financial flows towards sustainable development investments across the emerging world, with a priority to Africa”, he said.
The development promises to provide all that is needed in combating the hazards of climate change, and the Climate Finance Partnership aims at doing this in a way that harnesses the economic opportunities that are covert in the transition to a global low-carbon economy.
Edwin Conway – Global Head of BlackRock Alternative Investors said that “we are honored to collaborate with this group of like-minded organizations from the public and private sectors to raise initial capital that will be used to help unlock the energy transition in emerging markets through the Climate Finance Partnership”.
