Fifth Wall climate fund aims to decarbonize property industry

Host Hotels & Resorts

21/07/2022 12:00

By Herbert Lash
    NEW YORK, July 21 (Reuters) - Fifth Wall, a Los
Angeles-based venture capital firm focused on real estate
technology, said on Thursday it has raised $500 million for a
climate fund to help decarbonize an industry estimated to
account for nearly 40% of the world's carbon emissions.
    The fund, which brings together some of the largest owners
and operators of real estate globally, will invest in software,
hardware, renewable energy, energy storage, smart buildings and
carbon sequestration technologies. 
    While real estate emits about two-fifths of total global
greenhouse gases during a building's life cycle, according to
brokerage JLL, estimates show the industry has invested only
$94.6 million into climate technology R&D over the past 10
years, Fifth Wall said.
    The cost to retrofit existing U.S. commercial buildings to
decarbonize the infrastructure on which they run is estimated at
$18 trillion, said Brendan Wallace, co-founder and managing
partner at Fifth Wall.
    "This is really the first time the industry, acting
collectively, has come together to invest in this critical tech
to help decarbonize real estate," he said. "Real estate is the
single-biggest lever we can turn on to mitigate climate change."
    Fifth Wall has received commitments from American Homes 4
Rent  AMH.N , Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
 BBVA.MC , British Land Co PLC  BLND.L , CBRE Group Inc
 CBRE.N , Brazil's Cosan SA  CSAN3.SA  and the New Zealand
Superannuation Fund, a sovereign wealth fund, among many others.
    The Climate Fund has already completed strategic investments
in several companies, including Assembly OSM, Brimstone, Clarity
AI, Electric Hydrogen, ICON, Sealed, SPAN, Turntide Technologies
and Wildcat Discovery Technologies, Fifth Wall said. 
    The climate fund will bring Fifth Wall's capital under
management to about $3.2 billion.
    "The real estate industry is the single-most contributed
industry to climate change," Wallace said. "It's the culprit
that was hiding in plain sight."

 (Reporting by Herbert Lash; editing by Richard Pullin)
 ((herb.lash@thomsonreuters.com; 1-646-223-6019; Reuters
Messaging: herb.lash.reuters.com@reuters.net))