Fifth Wall Closes $500M Climate Fund, Property's Climate Tech Investment Accelerates By 5,500%
Look at the data on investment in property climate tech and it is clear there are rocket boosters behind it.
This week it was disclosed that a climate tech fund intended to help decarbonise the property industry has exceeded its target by 150%.
Fifth Wall closed its first Climate Fund at $500M. When it was launched in 2021, the target was $200M.
The fund represents a massive acceleration in property industry investment in climate technology. Until now, total investment has averaged just over $9M a year, Fifth Wall said. That means the new fund saw an acceleration of around 5,500%, but however you cut the numbers, the fundraising shows a mighty and perhaps game-changing shift in gear.
Even so, the fund won’t plug the yawning gap in property decarbonisation funding, a gap Fifth Wall said totals $10.5T.
The real estate industry is said to emit approximately 40% of total global greenhouse gases when emissions from each phase of a building’s life cycle are taken into account.
Backers of what is now the property industry’s largest private decarbonisation fund include British Land, Camden Property Trust, CBRE, Cosan, Hilton, Hudson Pacific Properties, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Kimco Realty Corp., MGM Resorts and NZ Super Fund.
The latest announcement brings Fifth Wall’s capital under management to approximately $3.2B.
“Although the real estate industry has historically been among the largest contributors to global greenhouse gases, most real estate organizations have underinvested into the critical climate tech necessary to decarbonize,” said Brendan Wallace, Fifth Wall co-founder and managing partner.
The fund has already invested in promising technologies developed by Assembly OSM, Brimstone, Clarity AI, Electric Hydrogen, ICON, Sealed, SPAN, Turntide Technologies and Wildcat Discovery.
Founded in 2016, Fifth Wall is backed by a global mix of strategic limited partners from more than 15 countries. The 100-strong list includes BNP Paribas Real Estate, MetLife Investment Management, Starwood Capital and Toll Brothers.
