Alterra, the UAE's $30Billion Climate Fund, Marches Forward at New York Climate Week

New York, 23 September 2024 – ALTÉRRA, the UAE’s $30 billion catalytic climate investment vehicle, hosted a high-level roundtable discussion today during New York Climate Week. Bringing together some of the world’s most influential climate leaders and finance experts at its Roundtable, ALTÉRRA reflected on its impact and progress since its launch at COP28 and led a discourse on charting the path forward in mobilizing capital to support the global climate agenda.

The roundtable was hosted by Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Chairman of ALTÉRRA, who emphasized that the fund was established to meet the urgency of the moment by seizing the opportunity of green industrialization and climate action. 

“ALTÉRRA was founded to seize this moment as the world’s largest catalytic investor that is 100 per cent focused on climate action,”

said Dr. Al Jaber.

“Since our launch at COP28, we have placed $6.5 billion with our partners BlackRock, TPG, and Brookfield, with a significant portion helping to create emerging market funds focused on climate-transition investments. Each partner is putting skin in the game and attracting more investors to fund real projects with a combined portfolio of over 40GW of clean energy across five continents.” 

The roundtable convened approximately 30 CEOs, senior experts and leaders from across finance, climate, and policy sectors to address the challenges and opportunities in scaling climate finance globally. The discussions focused on strategies to unlock investment opportunities, remove barriers in emerging markets, and enhance collaboration between public and private sectors to meet global climate goals. Key stakeholders shared insights on accelerating capital flows into climate-focused projects, emphasizing the need for innovative financial models, de-risking mechanisms, and stronger public-private partnerships to fully realize the potential of climate finance, particularly in the most climate-vulnerable regions.

In his opening remarks, Majid Al Suwaidi, CEO of ALTÉRRA, emphasized the UAE’s continued leadership in climate finance, stating:

"ALTÉRRA was founded with a singular mission: to drive the flow of capital into the regions and sectors that need it most. Today’s roundtable discussions reinforced that the Global South is at the heart of the climate finance challenge, and it’s where ALTÉRRA is determined to make a lasting impact. By forming strategic partnerships and leveraging innovative financing mechanisms, we are mobilizing critical investments that will not only accelerate the global transition to clean energy but also ensure that no region is left behind. Together, we can build a more equitable and sustainable climate economy."

Mark Carney, Chair and Head of Transition Investing, Brookfield Asset Management, said:

“Our partnership with ALTÉRRA has been instrumental in launching our Catalytic Transition Fund which has already reached half its $5 billion fundraising target. We are already exploring numerous opportunities and the fund’s first investments will begin later this year, bridging the financing gap that exists in emerging markets and building institutional capacity to bring down future investment costs. Our partnership is also fostering the collaboration between public and private finance necessary to accelerate the net zero transition in these underserved countries.”

Larry Fink, BlackRock Chairman and CEO, said:

"BlackRock is proud to partner with ALTÉRRA to rapidly deploy capital to make critical investments in climate infrastructure projects in emerging markets and around the world. ALTÉRRA has set ambitious goals in climate finance, and today’s gathering brings together government, business, finance, and philanthropy to drive greater collaboration and innovation to finance climate solutions. We look forward to continuing to work together and bringing our joint expertise to this effort,”  

Jim Coulter, Executive Chairman of TPG and Managing Partner of TPG Rise Climate, said:

“Through innovation, partnership, and focus, the aspirations of ALTÉRRA are steadily becoming reality. Together, we reimagined the tools of traditional finance to create the Global South Initiative – a new strategy offering return enhancement to attract and channel institutional capital to high growth climate opportunities in underserved and overlooked markets in the Global South. The new strategy is generating strong engagement from clients across Asia, Europe, and North America and unlocking a broader set of investment opportunities across the Global South.” 

As the world faces increasing climate challenges, ALTÉRRA’s leadership in fostering collaboration and investment in clean energy is playing a crucial role in financing the transition to a low-carbon economy. Today’s roundtable reaffirmed the importance of collective action, with participants agreeing that continued innovation and collaboration are key to scaling climate finance and achieving global climate objectives.