Norway’s Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP) is investing NOK2bn (€202m) in US-focused renewable infrastructure fund Quinbrook Net Zero Power Fund.
The NOK728bn municipal pensions provider said the new commitment to the Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners-managed fund was part of the Oslo-based institution’s goal of putting at least NOK6bn a year into climate-friendly investments.
Harald Koch-Hagen, head of risk management and allocation at KLP, said: “We are impressed by Quinbrook’s results in creating value and managing risk on behalf of its partners.
“They have created strong and good platforms that should be able to provide investors with a stable and predictable return,” he said.
KLP said the fund would mainly invest in solar power with battery systems, both as part of the decarbonisation of the energy system and because of the energy demand from data centres in the US.
US firms Primergy and Rowan Digital Infrastructure would account for at least two-thirds of the investments, KLP said, adding that the fund would also include some minor investments in the UK and Australia.
KLP’s head of social responsibility, Heidi Finskas, said energy production had to be adjusted in a renewable direction.
“It is absolutely necessary to reduce CO2 emissions and fulfil the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, which KLP has a stated goal of contributing to,” she said.
“The energy situation we see in the world now is another sign of how important it is to produce more clean energy,” she said.
KLP said its NOK6bn-a-year target for new climate investments constituted about 8% of its total investments and had been in place since 2017.
At the end of June, the group’s climate-friendly investments totalled around NOK56.7bn, it said.
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