Jul 22, 2025, 1:36 PM ETPanel, Conference Presentation

Eco Edge: Investing in a Clean Economy | Global Conference 2025

Generate Capital (Scott Murphy): Focuses on $9 trillion real assets and infrastructure opportunity to reach net zero by 2050, with $8 trillion allocated to real assets and infrastructure.
Carbon Direct (Neely Gilbert): Splits operations between an advisory arm (80 scientists, ~60 PhDs) and an investment arm (Carbon Direct Capital) targeting growth equity in industrial decarbonization.
Capricorn Investment Group (Mark): Manages an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) business for family offices and foundations, plus a venture arm with $800M across ~35 deep tech technologies.
BE Ventures (Arij Alshakar): The venture arm of Bahrain's Babco Energies, focused on deploying clean technologies into a 90-year-old oil and gas ecosystem while supporting a national net-zero goal by 2060.

Capital Gap: Heavy industry and hard-to-abate sectors consume 40% of global fossil fuels and generate 33% of emissions, yet receive only ~1% of the capital allocated to renewable energy.
Economic Maturity: The sector is shifting from "mission-driven" to "profit-driven," requiring solutions that are cost-saving or break-even to mobilize the necessary $9 trillion annually without relying solely on philanthropy.
Return Targets: Generate Capital reports delivering private equity returns in the "high teens" for infrastructure projects and "high teens" for credit investments over the last decade.
Asset Allocation Shift: A recent survey of ~42 asset owners representing $1.7 trillion in capital shows a pivot from venture capital back to infrastructure, with climate investing remaining a top priority.

Policy Uncertainty: 70% of surveyed asset owners cite political uncertainty and liquidity constraints as primary barriers to new climate investments in the next 12–18 months.
IRA Impact: The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was an attempt to catch up with China's industrial policy (active since 2005), though some tax benefits are currently being questioned by the new administration.
Infrastructure vs. Policy: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is viewed as more immediately impactful for infrastructure investors than the IRA, with project viability determined more by state and local policy than federal mandates.
Coal vs. Renewables: Despite political rhetoric favoring coal, zero new coal plants were built between 2017 and 2021; those four years coincided with the most significant renewable energy growth in history due to economic factors.

AI & Data Centers: A major driver of demand for "clean, firm power," creating opportunities in microgrids, battery storage, and behind-the-meter solutions to bypass interconnection queues.
Industrial Decarbonization: Focus areas include point-source carbon capture for cement/power plants, green steel, green cement, and hydrogen for heavy transport.
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs): Identified as a key technology where the U.S. holds a competitive advantage, with potential applications for Bahrain's energy mix.
Private Credit: Emerging as a critical asset class for climate investing, filling a gap left by venture capital volatility and infrastructure project delays.
Circular Economy: Investments in waste processing (food waste, water recycling) and recycling infrastructure, such as the recently backed Closed Loop Partners.

China's Dominance: China currently leads globally in solar, EVs, batteries, and rare earth minerals, creating competitive pressure for U.S. companies to innovate and lower costs.
Strategic Pivot: Companies are not abandoning climate goals post-election but are re-evaluating interim strategies (2030 targets) and shifting narratives to emphasize cost efficiency and energy security over pure "sustainability" branding.
Regional Incubation: Bahrain is positioning itself as a "springboard" for U.S. and European clean technologies to test and scale in the GCC region.
Nature-Based Solutions: While currently challenging due to market volatility and early-stage definitions (e.g., regenerative agriculture), investors view long-term potential in sustainable forestry and organic farmland.

Florida School District Retrofit: A $40 million lighting retrofit scaled to a $650 million upgrade of the entire physical plant, delivering risk-adjusted returns while saving the district 30% on energy bills to fund teacher salaries and supplies.
Data Center Microgrids: Deployment of multi-solution microgrids enabling data centers to secure clean, firm power in 12 months instead of the standard 4-year utility interconnection timeline.
Methane Detection Pilot: Implementation of AI-powered camera technology in Bahrain to detect leaks across a 90-year-old oil field, subsequently adapted for tank monitoring and other upstream applications.