Former US vice president Al Gore and ex-Goldman Sachs Asset Management boss David Blood have teamed up to set up their second sustainable asset management business in a bid to close the “climate impact gap”.
Just Climate’s stated aim is to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius by funnelling institutional money toward the “most impactful climate solutions” in areas like energy, transport, food and agriculture.
Though Blood and Gore already launched a sustainable business, Generation Investment Management, in 2004, the pair said more was needed to address the climate impact gap. The United Nations has forecast it will cost $3trn (£2.2trn, €2.5trn) per annum through to 2050 to reach net zero.
A ‘challenge to conventional thinking’
Just Climate will chiefly focus on companies and projects which have the potential to deeply decarbonise the economy but are not yet fully served by traditional investment mandates.
Many of these solutions are often ignored on the basis they are too capital-intensive, unproven at scale, or in challenging geographies, the firm said.
“As a sector, we urgently need to seriously rethink how capital is allocated in order to deliver real progress toward the net zero commitments we have made,” Gore added.
“Just Climate aims to prioritise impact, to challenge conventional thinking and to inspire the sort of innovations that are now required for us to overcome the climate challenges ahead of us.”
Blood told the Financial Times that Generation IM’s partners would front 3% of Just Climate’s total assets and said he hoped the firm would rival Generation’s $36bn assets in the coming years.
Blood will chair the new investment group, with Gore serving as chairman of the climate impact advisory group. It is backed by a consortium of founding partners, including the Microsoft Climate Innovation fund, Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund, GSAM’s Imprint Group, and the Harvard Management Company.
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