Barclays bank is to ramp up invesments in climate tech startups to £500 million, with a specific focus on decarbonisation opportunities.
Having reviewed growth opportunities in the sector, Barclays' Sustainable Impact Capital investment mandate will increase from £175m by 2025, to £500m by 2027.
In the last two and a half years, Barclays has invested £84m into innovative start-ups, helping them to scale and fill their growth stage funding gaps. The Sustainable Impact Capital investments have supported multiple aspects of climate-tech innovation, from property retrofit solutions to long-duration energy storage and hydrogen technologies.
This next phase will see an enhanced focus on decarbonisation technologies that are enabling transition within carbon intensive sectors, particularly where Barclays has meaningful client exposure such as energy and power, real estate and transport. A particular focus will be on carbon capture and hydrogen technologies.
Daniel Hanna, Barclays global head of sustainable finance for the Corporate and Investment Bank, says: "The final COP27 text stated that $4-6 trillion a year needs to be invested in renewables and decarbonisation solutions until 2030 - including investments in technology and infrastructure - to allow us to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Barclays is uniquely positioned to help scale the new climate technologies that will decarbonise industries and create green jobs. Many of the technologies that are required to achieve Net Zero have not yet reached commercial scale. Barclays can play a critical role though leveraging our experience as an advisor, bank, and investor through our Sustainable Impact Capital Programme to help accelerate their development and adoption.“
In November, Barclays faced the biggest ever day of climate protests as hundreds of people took action at over 100 Barclays branches across the UK to protest against the high street bank’s investment in fossil fuels.