Strathclyde commits to clean energy in hunt for net zero

The Strathclyde Pension Fund has committed £20 million of capital to a government-backed venture capital fund investing in early stage UK clean technology ventures.

The Clean Growth Fund was established in 2020 with funding from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Run by CCLA, it has achieved almost two-thirds of its £100 million funding target.

Designed to accelerate the commercialisation of clean growth technologies, the fund aims to provide new job opportunities across the UK.

“Strathclyde Pension Fund’s £20 million cash injection into the fund will support the UK’s best innovators to develop and commercialise the clean technology solutions needed to meet our climate change goals,” said the minister for business, energy and corporate responsibility, Lord Martin Callanan.

Strathclyde investment manager, Ian Jamison, added: “Our investment in the Clean Growth Fund not only enables us to deliver on the pension fund’s return objectives but is also aligned with our objective of implementing an investment strategy that is consistent with achieving the goal of global net-zero emissions by 2050.”

A freedom of information request by Platform, Friends of the Earth (England, Wales, and Northern Ireland), and Friends of Earth Scotland in February discovered that UK local government pension funds remained heavily invested in fossil fuel companies in 2019/20, with holdings of £9.9 billion.

Strathclyde Pension Fund with Greater Manchester and West Midlands were the heaviest investors, with their allocation accounting for 20% of all local government pension schemes’ fossil fuel investments in the UK.

The allocation is part of a commitment the fund has given to cut its carbon emissions and impose a 2050 deadline to achieve net zero.