Green Investing Part of the Ginormous Step From High-Carbon to Low-Carbon Economy

In addition to putting his money where his mouth is, Al Gore and the investment vehicle he heads has closed a new $683m fund to invest in early-stage environmental companies. For the new Climate Solutions Fund to raise such money in the face of an economic slow-down demonstrates that confidence in green investing remains strong. The fund will focus on equity investments in small companies in four sectors: renewable energy; energy efficiency technologies; energy from biofuels and biomass; and the carbon trading markets. Wait << Rewind << Biofuels? “Crime-against-humanity” biofuels?

Sure biofuels have taken some knocks recently, but major investing of this kind is a key way other than government policy (which thus far in the states has followed the well-beaten corn-subsidy path) that technologies can be developed in the next three to five years that use non-food plants or rely on agricultural byproducts rather than crops themselves. Gore has already said that “biofuels could be one of the solutions to climate crisis” but that they have to be handled with care. So let’s raise a tall glass of cellulosic ethanol refined from the finest switchgrass and make a toast to “following the money: may it lead us not to the scene of the crime, but rather to the scene of the success.” Cheers.

This is the second fund from Generation Investment Management, chaired by the former veep and managed by David Blood, former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, who told The Financial Times:

A fear expressed by some is that the first thing to go in a downturn is the nice-to-have sort of investment. Some people put green investments in that category, but we think that is nonsense. This is not nice-to-have – it is fundamental finance…because the transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy is a ginormous step that is going to happen quickly…. 

The first fund from Gore and Blood, the Global Equity Strategy Fund, has $2.2bn invested in large companies they judge have “sustainable“ businesses, from an environmental, social and economic viewpoint. Blood expects that fund to be worth $5bn within two years, based on commitments from interested investors.

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via:: The Financial Times (free registration required)

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