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Are you plugged into the Capacity Investment Scheme? Our energy transition experts discuss important CIS updates, and specific project and bankability issues below.   Lisa Zhou; Skye Kirby; Julia Arrighi; Jun En Chong; Lana Yang

Impact investor appetite for gaining exposure to infrastructure impact funds is on the up, across sectors and geographies.

The Impact Of Rising Finance Costs On Global Energy Investment: Challenges And Strategies For A Sustainable Future #FinanceCosts #EnergyInvestment #SustainableDevelopment #CleanEnergy #EmergingEconomies #EnergySecurity #InterestRates #DebtFinancing #PrivateInvestment #GovernmentFunding #SustainableFinance #EnergyTransition #AffordableCapital #NZEScenario #GlobalEconomy https://lnkd.in/gDyc6YzG

Very interesting to see the Government's announcement this morning on the creation of a new National Wealth Fund, which it hopes will be a key enabler for investment into the Energy Transition. Whilst there will doubtlessly be shouts that the amounts invested are too small (which will almost always be true given the sheer scale of investment needed), I think that initiatives like this will play an important role in catalysing investment. They can give confidence to private investors and help "crowding in" of capital for investments such as netzero infrastructure. I look forward to this being a new step in the acceleration needed on Energy Transition projects. https://lnkd.in/dQqG_bt9

While I was less excited about a sovereign wealth fund, what's more exciting is how it will be used - green steel, green hydrogen, industrial decarbonisation, gigafactories and ports. What will be even more exciting is to see who the management is and how quickly it gets going. The clock is ticking Rt Hon Rachel Reeves #ESG #industrialstrategy #greenfinance https://lnkd.in/eDf5bNQJ

Janet Yellen proposed a set of nine net-zero financing and investment principles that financial institutions should follow to manage global warming (https://lnkd.in/gDDY7ukB ). Theoretically they are admirable but I fear that a group of banks or nations will become financing renegades and reap huge profits by staying outside the principles and funding non-compliant customers. The ability to reel them in would be questionable. Summary of the Principles for Net-Zero Financing & Investment PRINCIPLE 1: A financial institution’s net-zero commitment (commitment) is a declaration of intent to work toward the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Treasury recommends that commitments be in line with limiting the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5°C. To be credible, this declaration should be accompanied or followed by the development and execution of a net-zero transition plan. PRINCIPLE 2: Financial institutions should consider transition finance, managed phaseout, and climate solutions practices when deciding how to realize their commitments. PRINCIPLE 3: Financial institutions should establish credible metrics and targets and endeavor, over time, for all relevant financing, investment, and advisory services to have associated metrics and targets. PRINCIPLE 4: Financial institutions should assess client and portfolio company alignment to their (i.e., financial institutions’) targets and to limiting the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5°C. PRINCIPLE 5: Financial institutions should align engagement practices — with clients, portfolio companies, and other stakeholders — to their commitments. PRINCIPLE 6: Financial institutions should develop and execute an implementation strategy that integrates the goals of their commitments into relevant aspects of their businesses and operating procedures. PRINCIPLE 7: Financial institutions should establish robust governance processes to provide oversight of the implementation of their commitments. PRINCIPLE 8: Financial institutions should, in the context of activities associated with their net-zero transition plans, account for environmental justice and environmental impacts, where applicable. PRINCIPLE 9: Financial institutions should be transparent about their commitments and progress towards them

Energy emerged as the second most prominent investment sector, garnering more than 16% of total investment. Investment into energy and related sectors is likely to continue on an upward trajectory.

On 9 July 2024, the government announced new plans to "align key institutions under the National Wealth Fund that will boost growth and unlock investment." The Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds instructed officials to "immediately begin work to align the UK Infrastructure Bank and the British Business Bank under a new National Wealth Fund that will invest in the new industries of the future." The National Wealth Fund will be capitalised with £7.3 billion over the course of the parliament, with a target of mobilising £3 of private investment for every £1 of public money. It will invest in higher-risk projects such as: building gigafactories for batteries, upgrading ports, decarbonising steel production, accelerating the deployment of carbon capture, and supporting green hydrogen manufacturing. Ben Sheppard, Partner in our Infrastructure & Energy team, commented: "The National Wealth Fund is an opportunity to attract much-needed private investment into priority net-zero projects. We can expect to see the fund used to accelerate deployment of carbon capture technologies and green hydrogen manufacturing, using the demand support mechanisms established under the Energy Act 2023." "British ports will benefit from £1.8bn to be invested in upgrading port infrastructure and the deployment of offshore windfarms. Alongside planning reform, Labour's objective to double onshore wind, triple solar panels, and quadruple offshore wind by 2030 — we look forward to an exciting time for infrastructure and energy projects." We will provide further updates on this as investment plans are announced. Find out more here. #NationalWealthFund #InfrastructureAndEnergy #IAndE #Infrastructure #WalkerMorris #ForgeYourOwnPath

We are now six months into the work of the Investment Delivery Forum and I'm pleased to see the great progress already being made. This week, we released a report that outlines the steps to make most of the £100bn Solvency UK opportunity and how we can help accelerate private-sector green infrastructure investment. In it, we identified key barriers and solutions to investment in green & good infrastructure and are now ready to explore potential pilots where we can test the learnings we've gathered.   The media has been hugely receptive to this news and it's been covered across both trade press and national news. This really emphasises the important investment role of the insurance and long-term savings sector as well as the vital contribution our industry can make in helping the UK to achieve net zero goals.   Read the report here - https://idforum.org.uk/   Read the FT's coverage here - https://lnkd.in/ekJi5Y3m

🚀 Very proud of this great fundraising achievement and the successful final close of our two Impact Infrastructure Debt Funds! Both are substantially contributing to the acceleration of the energy and digital transition of our economies! 🚀 Kudos to the entire Infranity platform and the support of our investors! #infrastructureinvesting #energytransition #digitaltransformation