At the COP28, one of the world’s largest oil producers the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched its $30 billion ‘catalytic’ climate vehicle ALTÉRRA with a focus on improving access to funding for the Global South. Initial capital investment has already been announced for the development of over 6 GW new clean energy capacity in India. 

The initial funding for India projects includes the construction of 1.2 GW of wind and solar projects that can come online by 2025. 

Touted as the world’s largest private investment vehicle for climate change action, ALTÉRRA will aim to mobilize $250 billion globally by 2030, according to its creators. 

ALTÉRRA explains the reason behind its focus on the Global South, “It aims to steer private markets towards climate investments and focus on transforming emerging markets and developing economies, where traditional investment has been lacking due to the higher perceived risks across those geographies.” 

Supported by BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG as inaugural launch partners, the fund is actively exploring a range of additional investment opportunities including an African development platform with more than 5 GW of onshore wind and solar PV project pipeline. It is also on the lookout for a rural electrification platform in Latin America to provide electricity to over 1 million people in remote areas. 

Headed by COP28 Director-General Majid Al-Suwaidi as its CEO, Abu Dhabi headquartered ALTÉRRA is established by independent global investment manager Lunate. 

As part of the fund, ALTÉRRA ACCELERATION will steer $25 billion institutional capital towards climate investments at scale, while $5 billion ALTÉRRA TRANSFORMATION will provide risk mitigation capital to incentivize investment flows into the Global South. It will also enable concessional finance to further attract climate investment to Least Developed Countries (LDC) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).  

The UAE earned a word of praise from the US President Joe Biden who issued a statement that reads, “ALTÉRRA can play an important role in supporting the clean energy transition and enhancing resilience, particularly the $5 billion focused on making it easier to invest in least developed countries and small island developing states.” 

COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber meanwhile said the initial 4 days of the conference mobilized over $57 billion in new pledges and commitments, including $2.5 billion for renewable energy. It also saw 116 countries pledging to increase global renewable energy capacity to 11 TW by 2030 (see Over 120 Nations For 11 TW Global RE Target By 2030).