BlackRock has raised $4.5bn (£3.97bn) to launch an investment fund focused on climate infrastructure companies, following criticism of the asset manager’s investments in fossil fuels.
The new Global Infrastructure Fund IV will seek to invest in companies in the low-carbon energy, energy, transport and logistics, regulated utilities and digital infrastructure sectors.
The firm has previously been involved in investments in clean technology companies such as Source Global, Clean Capital and FreeWire Technologies.
Earlier this month, BlackRock received backlash after telling a UK parliamentary committee has no intention of ending its investments in coal, oil and gasstating that it is not appropriate to “construct a specific outcome of decarbonisation in the real economy”.
Despite being a signatory to the United Nations Net Zero Asset Managers Alliance, Blackrock told the committee it would not support a decarbonisation scenario that requires “no new investment” for “coal, oil and gas”.
Based in New York, BlackRock is one of the world’s largest asset managers with approx. Total assets are $8.5 trillion worldwide, as of Q2 2022.
He has led investments in a number of prominent UK-based startups, including Wagestream, which raised £135 million in April’s SumUp Series C round, which collected £507 million in June, and Snyk, which, despite a number of significant investments, recently announced that cutting 200 jobs.
BlackRock raises £4bn climate fund amid environmental backlash
