CCLA Investment Management invested £20 million ($24.2 million) in a clean-growth strategy run by Clean Growth Investment Management, a spokeswoman said.
Money manager CCLA, which runs £10 billion in assets for charities, religious organizations and the public sector, became a cornerstone investor in the Clean Growth fund alongside the U.K.'s Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.
The fund will invest in U.K. companies that focus on reducing carbon emissions across the power and energy, real estate, transport and waste sectors.
"We decided that it was time for CCLA to invest in the very best early-stage technologies to support the U.K. net-zero objective," James Bevan, CIO at CCLA, said in a news release. The U.K. plans to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
"Through the Clean Growth fund, we now look forward to working with other investors to support these exciting young U.K. companies aiming to reduce carbon emissions," Mr. Bevan said.
CGIM was established in November 2018 as a venture capital money manager, set up specifically to bid for and manage the Clean Growth fun, a spokesman said. Beverley Gower-Jones is the managing partner of CGIM, working in partnership with Northstar Ventures, which provides investment, administration and management services for the strategy including the sourcing of deals, he said.
Ms. Gower-Jones is also CEO of clean-growth technology firm Carbon Limiting Technologies.
CGIM executives plan to increase strategy allocations to £100 million by the fall of 2021, from the current £40 million investment from CCLA and the BEIS. “CGIM are already in talks with other interested LP investors,” the spokesman added, noting that the fund hopes to invest in at least two companies by the end of the year.
