Wales’ City and County of Swansea Pension Fund and the North East Scotland Pension Fund have invested in a BlackRock strategy that seeks to capture growth opportunities in renewables.
The US fund giant’s Global Renewable Power III strategy invests in global renewable power assets in a bid to generate “attractive” risk adjusted returns with a low correlation to the economic cycle.
Both pension funds have said they share BlackRock’s view to commit to the global energy transition “from two-thirds fossil fuels to two-thirds renewables” by 2050, as ESG has once again come into the spotlight during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Graham Buntain, investment manager at North East Scotland Pension Fund, said: “Demand for renewables continues to grow and this allocation produces both an attractive yield, whilst offering diversification benefits for our overall portfolio.”
Earlier this year BlackRock, which has previously come under fire for lagging in its sustainability efforts, pledged to switch up its investment process putting sustainability at its core.
The firm has since launched a series of ESG focused strategies.
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