BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said on an earnings call Friday that the joint decarbonization investment venture with Singapore-based investment firm Temasek reached $1 billion in investments during the third quarter. The Decarbonization Partners venture committed the funding to five climate tech companies developing technologies expected to play major roles in the clean energy transition.
In August, the company announced a $1.22 billion fund to invest in New Zealand’s climate infrastructure, which Fink called his firm’s “largest single-country low-carbon transition investment initiative,” in an August LinkedIn post. BlackRock’s climate venture will invest in wind, solar, battery storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the country.
“These initiatives are a real example of BlackRock's long-standing relationship with clients and how we deliver the entirety of our platform to pioneer solutions and meet our clients' evolving needs,” he said on the earnings call.
BlackRock and Temasek created the Decarbonization Partners venture in April 2021, with a mission to advance efforts to achieve net zero global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 through investing in companies pursuing decarbonization solutions. The Singaporean government is the sole equity shareholder of the company, but the commercial investment company is independently managed and has sole ownership of the assets.
The joint venture has so far invested in a pair of companies producing low-carbon materials — biotech company MycoWorks and low-carbon hydrogen producer Monolith — two battery companies — Group14 and Ascend Elements — and carbon management and software firm Carbon Direct.
Fink announced the $1 billion milestone on a call where BlackRock reported year-over-year revenues were up 5%, operating income increased 7% and earnings per share were 14% higher. The firm also reported $1.1 trillion more assets under management over the same period, a 14% increase
