Just Climate, an investment business created by Generation Investment Management to address the net zero challenge at scale, has today announced three investments in ABB E-mobility, H2 Green Steel and Meva Energy. All three companies reflect Just Climate’s approach of investing in scalable solutions with transformational potential that can help to deliver sector-wide decarbonisation in hard-to-abate industries. Just Climate was created by Generation Investment Management, a pioneer in sustainable investing, with the aim of identifying and investing in those businesses that can generate the highest positive climate impact while generating attractive risk-adjusted returns.
ABB E-mobility is a Swiss-based global leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions. Around 24% of all emissions come from the transportation sector, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which has traditionally been hard to decarbonise. Just Climate’s investment in ABB E-mobility will help decarbonise road transport by accelerating the deployment of its solutions ranging from smart chargers for the home to high-power chargers for highway stations of the future, solutions for electrification of fleets and opportunity charging for electric buses and trucks. Just Climate believes backing this business will have a significant impact on emissions abatement in a hard-to-decarbonise sector.
H2 Green Steel is an industrial start-up based in Sweden which aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of the steel industry – one of the hardest-to-abate industries, responsible for more than 7% of emissions, according to the IEA. By replacing coal traditionally used in steelmaking with green hydrogen powered by renewable electricity, the company aims to reduce emissions of steel by as much as 95%. Just Climate’s investment forms part of H2 Green Steel’s Series B fundraising announced in October 2022, the proceeds of which will be used to develop the company’s first of a kind, large scale, green steel plant in northern Sweden, the Boden Project.
Meva Energy, also based in Sweden, provides an innovative gasification technology to generate renewable energy for manufacturing sectors. Just Climate will support Meva Energy as it scales the technology and rolls it out more broadly to provide a clean, practical and cost-efficient solution to a widely spread network of mid-scale industries that currently rely on fossil fuels to power their industrial processes and operations. Through Meva Energy’s partnerships with two industrial players of scale, IKEA and SOFIDEL, the business has the potential to play a catalytic role in a sector-wide transition.
Clara Barby CBE, Senior Partner of Just Climate, said: “We established Just Climate to accelerate commercialisation of solutions for the hardest-to-abate emissions – for the benefit of people, the planet, and our clients. Some solutions will come from new businesses, others from large incumbents. Our first investments demonstrate this range and have the potential to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through outsized greenhouse gas emissions abatement in the next ten years.”
Shaun Kingsbury CBE, Chief Investment Officer of Just Climate, said: “Our first investments will accelerate commercialisation of 95% decarbonised steel, a natural gas substitute based on wood waste from other industrial processes, and electric charging solutions for a wider range of road transport that requires high-powered charging. All three solutions bring to life our thesis of investing in transformational solutions for the highest-emitting, hard-to-abate sectors while delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors.”
Björn Rosengren, CEO of ABB, said: “We are delighted to see investors sharing our strong confidence and trust in the E-mobility business growth story. Furthermore, ABB remains committed to our strategy to separately list the business subject to constructive market conditions.”
Henrik Henriksson, CEO of H2 Green Steel, said: “Those who have invested in our company are all at the forefront of enabling the change required to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. Just Climate is no exception. They believe in our business case as well as our purpose to accelerate the decarbonisation of heavy polluting industries. Being among the first green impact investments of Just Climate shows the impact our company will have on some of the dirtiest industries today.”
Niclas Davidsson, CEO of Meva Energy, said: “As an innovative greentech company we are really happy to achieve this big financing milestone from a climate-led, global investor. This important step forward significantly increases our ability to deliver impactful and sustainable bio syngas plants to the manufacturing industry. Just Climate’s investment to back our technology and its impact potential is a strong statement of confidence as well as a sign of shared values and commitments. We are very positive about the global growth opportunities that this new partnership will bring.”
