Cornwall Pension Fund has made a £40m (€46.6m) commitment to Octopus Energy Generation’s energy transition fund.
The £2.4bn UK local government pension scheme has placed the capital into Octopus Energy Transition Fund (OETF), a fund seeking to raise £500m to target opportunities in sectors decarbonising the economy like heating, storage and transport.
OETF launched in May last year with an investment in Cornwall-based heat pump business, Kensa Group to scale the roll-out of heat pumps in Britain.
In January, IPE Real Assets reported that OETF together with another Octopus Energy Generation fund, the Sky Fund had invested £200m in London-based Deep Green, a data centre company that has developed a technology that turns the excess heat generated by its data centres into free hot water for several organisations, including public swimming pools and district heating networks.
In the same month, OETF invested in climate technology firm Cultivo and also agreed to deploy additional capital into the firm’s natural capital projects across North America, Europe and Australasia which includes land regeneration and reforestation activities.
Alex Brierley, co-head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management business, said: “It’s brilliant to be working with Cornwall Pension Fund to turbocharge the energy transition and invest in a sustainable future for generations to come.
”Through the Octopus Energy Transition Fund, we’re backing massively scalable sectors decarbonising our economy that will drive down bills for customers, boost local economies, and help us get to net zero quicker than ever before.”
Matthew Chapman, investment manager at the Cornwall Pension Fund, said: “We are delighted to be working with Octopus Energy Generation through this innovative fund. The Cornwall Pension Fund has ambitious climate objectives, and we want to drive real change through how we invest.
”Through this partnership with Octopus Energy, we can make widespread positive impact, actively investing in and benefiting from the transition to a low carbon economy.”
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