Climate solutions-focused investment business Just Climate announced that it has raised $375 million to date for its Natural Climate Solutions strategy, aimed at directing capital to businesses focused on natural climate solutions to transforming the way land is used, to help achieve global net zero and nature goals, while also delivering attractive returns.
The announcement marks a significant increase in assets for the strategy, growing from just $175 million earlier this year.
Founded in 2021 by Generation Investment Management, a sustainability-focused investment firm chaired by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Just Climate aims to deliver impact by focusing on scaling solutions for the highest-emitting, most off-track sectors of the economy, investing in climate solutions that can radically reduce or remove emissions, while generating attractive risk-adjusted financial returns.
The firm unveiled the Natural Climate Solutions strategy in September 2023, designed to support entrepreneurs with growth capital and business building help, to scale solutions to help transform the way agricultural commodities are produced and to restore degraded landscapes, such as biological fertilizers and pesticides to replace chemicals, as well as development models to finance and operate restoration projects, and technologies to verify carbon and biodiversity outcomes.
New investors in the fund include Achmea Investment Management, the Environment Agency Pension Fund and Royal Bank of Canada. Existing investors include California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) as institutional anchor and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund as corporate anchor.
Clara Barby CBE, Senior Partner of Just Climate, said:
“We are proud to welcome a diverse group of partners who share our conviction that investing in the land transition is essential to building a sustainable economy. Together, we can scale solutions that deliver measurable impact for climate, biodiversity and people.”
Alongside the new commitments, Just Climate also announced that the fund made its third investment, backing India-based agritech platform AgroStar. Founded in 2013, AgroStar helps millions of smallholder farmers improve their income and livelihoods through climate-resilient practices and products, through its digital platform and network of roughly 10,000 retail stores.
The funds other investments include biodiversity measurement and monitoring solution provider NatureMetrics, and agriculture-focused biosolutions provider GreenLight Biosciences.
Shardul Sheth, CEO and Co-Founder of AgroStar, said:
“Indian agriculture stands at a critical juncture – climate variability and degraded soils threaten our farmers’ livelihoods; the need to address these challenges has never been clearer and more urgent. Partnering with Just Climate brings far more than capital; they bring deep expertise in scaling natural climate solutions and the conviction to back businesses driving real systemic change.”
