The Macquarie Group through its Green Investment Group (GIG) plans to develop a 20GW pipeline of renewable energy projects over the next five years, the Australian finance group said during the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.
A fifth of the pipeline – or 4GW – is expected to be sourced in non-OECD emerging markets, where climate finance flows have been historically weaker.
“Over the last decade we have played a leading role in facilitating the shift towards renewables, with a particular focus on trying to address the various challenges that remain to full transition, including the need for a stronger pipeline of projects and integrating these with energy grids,” Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake said.
“We are increasingly broadening our focus by seeking new solutions to emissions reduction across agriculture, waste and real estate and working to ensure our infrastructure investments are more climate resilient.”
The group added that many of the planned projects are expected to be backed by power purchase agreements (PPAs) arranged by GIG with corporate clients.
Macquarie late last month had said it plans to raise A$1bn ($675m) in new capital as it targets investments in renewable energy.
The finance group is part of the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) established early this year by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is not the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action. CFLI members, which also includes finance majors such as Allianz or Goldman Sachs, have committed to deploy US$20bn of emerging market climate finance by 2025.
Macquarie also announced that it will become a member of RE100, a global corporate leadership initiative bringing together businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity and will source all of the energy supplying its premises and data centres from renewable sources by 2025.
Macquarie and the Green Investment Group – which it bought in 2017 – have helped finance more than 22GW in renewable energy, storage and other green energy projects.
