A Conversation with Altérra CEO His Excellency Majid Al Suwaidi | Middle East & Africa Summit 2025

Altera Fund Structure and Performance

• The UAE established Altera with a target capitalization of $30 billion, aiming to mobilize approximately $250 billion in climate finance.
• The fund committed an initial deployment of $6.5 billion (representing 20% of its capital) upon launch to ensure immediate execution.
• Altera selected Brookfield, TPG, and BlackRock as initial strategic partners to deploy capital across existing and new strategies.
• Two new "Global South" dedicated funds were launched:
  • The Brookfield partnership (infrastructure focus) achieved a capital mobilization ratio of 9x.
  • The TPG partnership (private equity focus) achieved a capital mobilization ratio of 4x.
• The fund operates across four investment pillars: Clean Energy, Industrial Decarbonization, Climate Tech, and Sustainable Living.
• Altera intends to release its first Climate Impact Report next year.
• The fund welcomes co-investors globally, operating in Europe and North America in addition to the Global South, though the primary mandate remains climate impact and commercial return.
• Altera identifies itself as the largest climate-focused private fund in the world.

COP28 Strategic Shifts and Outcomes

• Majid Al-Sawadi characterizes COP28 as the most significant climate conference since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
• A core strategic pivot at COP28 involved shifting from a purely governmental negotiation model to one that centrally integrated the private sector, including energy companies, NGOs, and academia.
• Unlike previous conferences where energy companies were often excluded, COP28 engaged the energy sector directly, arguing that their technical expertise and capital are essential for scaling decarbonization.
• The conference operated under a mandate of "progress over perfection," prioritizing tangible announcements and solutions over theoretical perfection.
• The success of COP28 was attributed to the leadership of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Prime Minister, who provided unwavering political backing to the "pragmatic" approach.

Leadership Background and Perspective

• Majid Al-Sawadi transitioned from a career as a geologist at ADNOC to climate diplomacy, serving as the UAE's chief negotiator for the Paris Agreement, Consul General in New York, and Ambassador to Spain.
• He cites his favorite early career experience as a research assistant working in remote field conditions, rather than his diplomatic roles.
• Al-Sawadi returned to climate negotiations for COP28 after a period away, noting that previous diplomatic efforts had become repetitive and failed to correct the trajectory toward climate goals.
• He joined Altera immediately after his tenure as Director General of the COP28 Presidency to operationalize the fund's mandate.

AI, Energy Security, and Future Trends

• Altera views the AI revolution as a significant driver of future energy demand, creating a bottleneck that necessitates rapid clean energy deployment.
• The fund posits that solar and wind are the fastest deployable energy solutions (e.g., solar fields in 18 months) compared to other forms requiring longer regulatory timelines.
• Investment strategies in the Global South include building clean energy infrastructure to support new data centers and meet growing energy demand driven by population and development.
• The fund's approach to AI involves a dual focus: utilizing AI as a tool for efficiency in investment spaces and investing in the clean energy technologies required to power AI infrastructure.
• Al-Sawadi emphasizes that the transition to clean energy is the most viable method to reconcile energy security concerns with the growing demand from emerging technologies.