Millions Committed to Green Tech, Circular Economy Initiatives as COP27 Ends

As world leaders prepare to wrap up negotiations at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Friday (Nov. 18), climate tech investment deals signed by participants mark some of the major successes of the nearly two-week event.

For example, the European Investment Fund (EIF), a private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) financier owned by the EU member states, has committed to investments totaling €247 million, including €75 million targeted at boosting financing for greenfield energy and circular economy projects in Spain and providing financing for renewable energy infrastructure development in Europe.

For its part, the U.K. has committed £65 million (about $77 million) to help accelerate the development of new green technologies and to help fund the country’s clean energy sector.

In a press release announcing the investment, the government stated its intention to become a global clean tech leader and support other nations in their transition to renewable energy.

“At COP27 we are leading international efforts to ensure these new innovations can be more accessible and affordable to heavy, energy-intensive industries in some of the world’s poorest countries,” it said.

VC Investors Fuel Europe’s Green Wave

Even prior to COP27, 2022 seems to have been a good year so far for climate tech funding. According to a recent report by PwC, climate tech investment in the 12 months to Q3 2022 represented more than a quarter of all VC invested globally.

And despite a general slowdown in VC investing during the second half of the year, climate tech has remained resilient and around the world — five of the 10 biggest VC deals in the most recent quarter went to startups in the space.

Related: October’s VC-Backed Funding Rounds Value Was Lowest of the Year

At the top of the list, Swedish battery maker Northvolt raised $1.1 billion in convertible notes in July to finance the expansion of its European factories.

With contracts worth more than $55 billion to supply customers that include BMW, Scania, Volkswagen and Volvo, the company is the first Europe-based commercial battery manufacturer to supply the automotive industry, signaling an end to European carmakers’ long reliance on Chinese energy cells.

Saudi Arabia Backs Electric Vehicles

Facilitating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) was once again high up on the agenda at this year’s Sharm El-Sheikh event.

At the Saudi Green Initiative forum on Monday (Nov. 14), Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), said the kingdom is planning to build 328,000 EVs a year once it gets its manufacturing capacity up and running.

As PYMNTS reported recently, the Gulf country is set to inaugurate its first large-scale EV manufacturing facility thanks to a factory being built by U.S. manufacturer Lucid Motors in the country.

Hot off the back of that announcement, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced this month that the kingdom will be launching its own electric car brand, Ceer, via a joint venture between the PIF and the Taiwanese electronics firm Foxconn.

Read on: EV Manufacturing, Micro-Mobility Enable Middle East Transport Electrification

It remains to be seen now if these strides will strengthen the global effort towards a cleaner planet and accelerate progress towards achieving the goal set at COP21 — a net-zero emissions world by the second half of the 21st century.

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