The world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, has launched a new fund for investing in companies related to materials that are essential for the low-carbon transition and opportunities created by decarbonising materials supply. The fund, BlackRock BFM Brown to Green Materials, which is available for UK investors, will be given the ‘Sustainability Improvers’ label under the UK’s Sustainable Fund Disclosure (SDR) regime. The fund will also apply BlackRock’s proprietary ‘SDR Improver Assessment’ methodology, which ensures that a minimum of 70% of the fund’s total assets are invested in equity securities that contribute to its sustainability objective. The materials sector includes metals and mining, cement, chemicals, steel, and construction materials. These companies should benefit from reduced operational costs and lower decarbonising capital requirements than higher carbon peers, Blackrock said in its press release.  The fund will be managed by Evy Hambro, Olivia Markham and Hannah Johnson in BlackRock’s Thematics and Sectors team. Markham said: “We expect global adoption of lower carbon technologies will drive stronger-than expected demand growth for materials required faster than anticipated, and this will result in higher materials prices and better-than-expected earnings for producers.” This new fund is part of the same strategy that saw the European launch of the BGF Brown to Green Materials Fund in June 2023.

Nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies-focused global investment manager New Forests’ Australia New Zealand Landscapes and Forestry Fund (ANZLAFF) has reached final close at A$600 million (US$372.3 million), with three new investors backing the vehicle. ANZLAFF offers exposure to integrated forest, land, carbon and agriculture markets in Australia and New Zealand, with investments focused on forestry plantations, alongside processing and related infrastructure. The fund aims to position investors so that they can benefit from the best use of forestry and agricultural land across Australia and New Zealand. It also offers additional revenue streams from carbon, biodiversity, and renewable energy such as solar and wind. The fund’s investments will also enhance climate mitigation through carbon sequestration and emissions reduction opportunities. Capital for the fund came from institutional investors in Europe and Asia-Pacific. The three new investors in the Fund’s final close are Nordic investment manager Evli, Japanese energy company Kyushu Electric Power, and a German insurance company. The final close comes 12 months after ANZLAFF’s first close with commitments from five investors, including Swedish pension fund Andra AP-fonden, German pension group Bayerische Versorgungskammer, and the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation. “It is exciting to see investors globally are increasingly considering how they can gain exposure to natural capital through an integrated investment into land, forestry, agriculture, carbon and biodiversity,” said David Shelton, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand at New Forests.

British multinational bank Standard Chartered has formed a long-term strategic partnership with global alternative asset manager Apollo to accelerate financing for the climate transition and sustainable infrastructure. As part of the agreement, the bank and Apollo’s Clean Transition Capital (ACT Capital), a sustainable investing platform, will collectively contribute up to US$3 billion of clean energy and transition financing across a range of asset classes and sectors. “The global industrial renaissance is creating unprecedented capital demands across next-gen infrastructure, sustainable power and other transition assets,” said Apollo Co-president Jim Zelter. “This new agreement should accelerate our mutual financing and investment activity in these areas, and we are thrilled to do it in partnership with Standard Chartered.” Deal origination for the partnership’s financing activities will be primarily taken up by Apterra, an Apollo-owned platform – within which Standard Chartered has acquired a minority stake – that focuses on originating, structuring and deploying debt capital to execute infrastructure transactions globally. “This partnership with Apollo […] is a great opportunity to leverage our collective sector expertise and innovative mindset to help finance sustainable growth,” said Standard Chartered Group CEO Bill Winters. “Standard Chartered and Apollo have complementary origination and distribution capabilities, which increase the scale of the financing we can jointly deploy, and the size of the projects in which we can participate.” The bank will provide a senior secured credit facility to ACT Capital to find project finance and infrastructure loans.

London-based sustainable investment manager EdenTree is changing the name of its Global Select Government Bond Fund to reflect the adoption of a new ‘Sustainability Focus’ label under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime. From 3 February, the fund will be called the EdenTree Global Sustainable Government Bond Fund. The fund, which was only launched in October, targets at least 80% asset exposure to government and government-related green, social, sustainable or impact bonds. The proceeds of these go towards financing projects that support a reduction in carbon emissions caused by human activities and/or enable greater access to services that empower communities around the world. “From launch, the fund has been run with a comprehensive approach to sustainability, both actively targeting investment in bonds designed to make a positive contribution to the world, while employing strict negative screening criteria,” said James Tomlinson, Head of Wholesale Distribution at EdenTree. The label is needed to “fully crystalise for investors the truly sustainable credentials of this portfolio”, said Tomlinson. The fund is managed by EdenTree’s Head of Fixed Income, David Katimbo-Mugwanya.