Amber Infrastructure will be working with a place-based investor to attract green investment. The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority hopes to secure an additional £90m to the fund.
The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) has appointed Amber Infrastructure as fund manager of its Green Growth West Fund. The fund management firm will be working with place-based investor BBRC.
BBRC is currently providing an investment readiness service for the MCA, which is made up of the Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire local authorities. This service includes supporting net zero projects and businesses in their investment planning, a spokesman for the MCA told Impact Investor.
The Green Growth West Fund was founded last year with a £10m investment by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority Committee. The fund is seeking to secure a further £90m in private and public investment over the next 12-24 months, it says.
“Creating jobs and growth and tackling the climate crisis can go hand in hand. [The West of England] Mayoral Combined Authority has already committed £10m to kickstart Green Growth West and attract a further £90m into our region with a substantial proportion of this from private investment,” said Dan Norris, the mayor of the West of England.
Employment boost
The total public and private investment from the fund may create as many as 9,000 new jobs and help generate £300m of turnover for local businesses as it boosts the region’s renewable energy, low-carbon transport and nature recovery efforts, according to the MCA.
The Green Growth West Fund could save regional households £6m on energy bills over the next 12 years because net zero investments could provide up to 36,000 homes with renewable energy, according to an estimate by the authority last year.
“This appointment highlights Amber’s role as a leading impact investor and fund manager and its commitment to delivering projects that meet regional needs and objectives,” said Jo Patrick, head of sustainable energy at Amber Infrastructure.
Meanwhile, BBRC has advised, leveraged and brokered over £70m in the region in the last five years for a wide range of impactful SME and asset-backed investment opportunities in housing, net zero, and health and wellbeing, the MCA said. This is in line with its mission to attract investments to the region that would not have arrived otherwise.
“To achieve the scale of investment that’s needed to tackle the climate and nature emergency, we need a bold approach – and the new Green Growth West Fund provides just that,” said BBRC CEO Ed Rowberry.
