Blackrock, partners eye initial $500 mn for climate fund

LONDON: A Blackrock-backed group aims to raise an initial $500 million for a private equity fund that will invest in climate changelinked infrastructure upgrades in emerging markets.

The group will provide the first $100 million of funding for the Climate Finance Partnership (CFP), which was set up in 2018 along with France, Germany and the Hewlett and Grantham charitable foundations, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The funding will go towards a first-loss tranche that will absorb any initial losses, a safety net for other institutional investors that Blackrock expects to help it raise at least another $400 million.

The CFP fund will be invested in renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage solutions and ultra-low and electric transport. At least a quarter of the investments would be made in Africa, with the rest in selected countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America, Blackrock said.

The venture is part of a wideranging overhaul of the way Blackrock, the world’s biggest asset manager, is responding to the issue of climate change.

Climate has also been at the forefront of this year’s annual World Economic Forum i n Davos, Switzerland, at which news of the planned initial fundraising was announced.

On Wednesday a separate $500 million United Nations-backed initiative also announced a plan to help achieve the UN’S Sustainable Development Goals, ‘SDG500’. REUTERS