Decarbonization Partners, BBVA key to financing clean technologies

For example Madrid

Three months ago, BBVA invested $25 million – €23.6 million – in the Decarbonization Partners I climate fund, a joint venture between BlackRock and Temasek that invests in seed-stage private companies and other companies.Venture capital years in more advanced stages whose activities and technologies aim to accelerate the decarbonization process. The fund has currently raised more than $1 billion in external capital from clients around the world.

“Our main goals are to generate knowledge of these clean technologies within the bank by bringing innovations to business and risk areas in order to start financing them as soon as possible. In this way we intend to be leaders in this field.” explains Javier Rodríguez Soler, Global Head of Sustainability, Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) at BBVA.

After this initial phase, Rodríguez Soler emphasizes: “Our investment in decarbonisation partners gives us exposure and access to knowledge and work in the most innovative and pioneering projects worldwide linked to an area with enormous potential and growth: new clean technologies.” . BBVA seeks to discover new companies and thus be able to “capture new business opportunities for the bank,” he says.

Megan Sharp, Global Head of Decarbonization Partners, who will participate this Thursday in the bank's third Sustainability Forum, adds that in addition to contributing to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, “Decarbonization Partners are focusing their investments on companies that can meet two metrics: growth and stock-like returns.” In this sense, BBVA saw a “huge business opportunity for sustainability” and is betting big on advice to help its clients decarbonise, providing them with technological and innovative solutions that are part of the bank's investments through funds.

Four vertical

The fund invests primarily in decarbonization solutions that can be applied on an industrial scale and also in those that can help sectors that are difficult to decarbonize. The investments are concentrated in four sectors that BBVA is promoting through business areas: clean and reliable energy generation and storage; Electrification of mobility, industry and buildings; New sustainable materials and technologies to use resources in a more sustainable way.

As Sharp explains, the fund is focusing on six priority areas: “Some, with investment in hardware, involve higher capital expenditures: carbon capture, storage and utilization, low-carbon materials, new energy and advanced mobility; while others are linked to nature programs.” And services: Carbon management and digital transformation.”

Decarbonisation Partners' latest investment is thermal battery manufacturer Antora Energy, which is capitalizing on the growth of renewable energy by solving its intermittency. The current portfolio includes Group15 Technologies and Ascend Elements, which also focuses on advanced battery solutions. In addition, Monolith, which produces clean hydrogen; Carbon Direct, a carbon management and software provider, and MycoWorks, a biomaterials company that makes leather materials from fungi.

“These are not early-stage startups, but companies that are growing and have a direct connection to corporate customers, investors and supply chains,” says Sharpe.