UAE seeks to silence critics with $30-billion climate fund pledge with BlackRock, Brookfield

The United Arab Emirates on Friday said it would contribute $30 billion to a new climate-oriented fund, with finance juggernauts BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG stepping in as inaugural launch partners.

The fund, dubbed Alterra, is seeking to lead to $250 billion in investments by 2030 and will focus on improving access to financing, especially for the Global South — which broadly refers to developing nations in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania — and direct private markets towards climate investments. Its activity will center on areas including the energy transition, industrial decarbonization and climate technology.

The announcement was made on the second day of the COP28 climate summit in the UAE.

COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber, who also serves as chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), will chair the board of Alterra. He said in a statement that the fund's "scale and structure will create a multiplier effect in climate focused investment, making it a vehicle like no other."

Majid al-Suwaidi, director general of COP28, will act as the Alterra chief executive officer, while the fund will be overseen by Lunate, a new Abu Dhabi-based asset manager.

COP, an annual meeting of heads of state, scientists, environmentalists, activists, business leaders and more, runs in the Emirates this year between Nov. 30 and Dec. 12.

The UAE has been under pressure to deliver results as host of the 2023 conference, amid widespread backlash over al-Jaber's appointment at the start of the year due to a potential conflict of interests with his role in the fossil fuel industry. COP28 officials have since argued this year's summit will focus on engaging the private sector.

In an early breakthrough, countries on Thursday agreed details for a disaster fund to help nations being hit by the climate crisis, building on a historic deal brokered at COP27 in Egypt last year.

But the good faith of the UAE's energy transition intentions was once more called under question shortly ahead of the summit, when documents obtained by a not-for-profit investigative journalism organization appeared to show al-Jaber planned to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 countries during the conference.

In a media briefing on Wednesday, al-Jaber called the report "false, not true, incorrect and not accurate," while a COP28 spokesperson said the documents were inaccurate and were not used by COP28 in meetings.