Investors are raising $500 million for sustainable development projects and companies in Asia, ranging from building retrofits to water treatment and clean transportation.
Hong Kong-based First Eastern Investment Group is taking a minority stake in and participating in a 50-50 joint venture with UK-based Sustainable Development Capital, to raise those funds and invest in projects.
Sustainable Development Capital is a leading merchant bank for large scale sustainable development projects in energy, water, waste, transport, healthcare and education.
The joint venture, SDCL Asia, will be based in Hong Kong, and will help Sustainable Development expand in Asia.
They plan to invest $100 million to upgrade the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and factories in Asia, noting that’s the most profitable, quick way toward a low carbon economy and doesn’t rely on subsidies.
That’s just a drop in the bucket – $100 billion a year is needed to upgrade efficiency in industry and buildings, according to Sustainable Development.
"At a time when the world’s population has reached 7 billion people, the issue of sustainable development is pivotal in the minds of policy makers worldwide. "Creativity in sustainability" is the key to unlocking many structural barriers in our daily environmental challenges and to identifying the growth industries of the future.
SDCL’s focus on energy efficiency addresses an urgent need for capital and expertise in a market that represents potentially the largest and cheapest source of clean energy and greenhouse gas emission reductions," says Victor Chu, CEO of First Eastern Investment Group.
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