Fund Investing $650M in US Green Retrofits

The Carbon War Room, an independent non-profit group founded by Sir Richard Branson, has launched a new consortium to unlock billions of dollars of investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies for US commercial real estate. The Carbon War Room has brokered the creation of a new consortium, the PACE Commercial Consortium (PCC), which promises to bring together Lockheed Martin, Barclays Capital, Energi and HannoverRe with Ygrene Energy Fund to unlock investment for retrofitting commercial properties. According to a CoStar report, the fund will provide up to $650 million for retrofit projects in Miami-Dade County, FL, and Sacramento, CA.

"The PACE Commercial and Industrial Program brings the Green Corridor a privately financed jobs program that will bend the emissions curve in Miami-Dade County and make the Green Corridor an example to the rest of country of what is possible, especially at a time when our construction trades so desperately need the work," said Steve Alexander, leader of Miami-Dade’s Green Corridor District.

"The PACE Commercial Consortium is the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle for cities looking to implement green plans," said Branson. "The Carbon War Room has been working with its partners to solve this puzzle for over 18 months as part of our Green Capital Global Challenge operation. I’m thrilled by the news of this ground-breaking mechanism, and believe it will unlock a trillion dollar market for green retrofits, creating jobs and growth around the world. There is simply no other source of economic growth with these characteristics."

Launched in 2010 at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the Green Capital Global Challenge aims to mobilize billions of dollars of currently idle private capital into city-led energy efficiency initiatives. Green Capital Global Challenge Director, Murat Armbruster, conceived of the PACE Commercial Consortium and introduced the member companies to one another during the Carbon War Room’s Creating Climate Wealth North America Summit in May this year.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.