Strategic
Supporting Barclays’ goal of transiting its businesses, customers and communities to a net-zero and net-negative long-term operating model.
Sustainable Impact Capital
Our Sustainable Impact Capital portfolio, led by Barclays’ Principal Investments team, will invest £500m by 2027 in the equity of fast-growing, innovative and environmentally-focused early-stage technology companies, whose values are aligned with those of Barclays and which target the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement.
From the acceleration of innovative carbon-efficient technologies and supply-chains to supporting the development of viable markets for carbon capture and sequestration, the portfolio is seeking out and supporting clear scalable propositions that deliver both environmental benefits and economic returns.
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Accelerate the transition to a net zero future by investing £500m by 2027 in the equity of innovative and environmentally-focused early-stage technology companies. -
Invest in propositions that are Strategic, Impactful and Economic.
Impact
Achieving meaningful environmental benefits, particularly with respect to the evolving need for carbon reduction and carbon removal.
Economic
Developing high-impact businesses that attract later-stage financing and achieve long-term commercial success.
Latest News
Case studies
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Nuada
An example of how Barclays is supporting technology that will drive the transition to a blow-carbon economy is the investment in MOF Technologies. A spin-out from Queen’s University Belfast, MOF Tech has developed an energy efficient carbon capture system, Nuada, to reduce harmful emissions from cement works, steel works, or energy-fromwaste plants. They have expertise in a class of nanomaterials known as Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs). MOFs are solid, sponge-like materials tailormade to capture and separate gases like CO2.
In May 2022, MOF Technologies announced that it would start work on an infield pilot involving three of the world’s major cement companies – Heidelberg Materials, Cementir Holding and Buzzi Unicem - as part of the Global Cement and Concrete Association’s Innovandi ‘Open Challenge’ to achieve net zero concrete by 2050. With the cement industry accounting for 7-8% of global carbon emissions, the impact opportunity for MOF Tech’s pioneering technology is substantial and Barclays looks forward to supporting them as they scale.
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Naked Energy
Barclays is actively supporting the energy transition through Sustainable Impact Capital investment in the British design and engineering business Naked Energy. It specialises in global innovation in solar thermal and solar PVT (PV-Thermal) with a mission to ‘change energy for good’ by heat decarbonisation. Heat is responsible for 51% of all energy demand and accountable for 40% of carbon emissions globally. 90% of all heat consumption still comes from fossil fuels. The key to decarbonising heat is through largescale deployment of distributed renewable heating solutions, such as solar thermal. Solar thermal heating systems provide a reliable, and more resilient energy infrastructure by offering zero carbon heat affordably and space efficiently.
Additionally, modern thermal storage technology allows end-customers to benefit from affordable clean heat throughout the year. The International Energy Agency estimates solar thermal and geothermal production will meet 75% of all heat demand by 2050 – putting solar thermal energy at the heart of working to meet the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement. Naked Energy’s Virtu product range addresses end customers with a constant heat demand, such as hospitals, multi-dwelling residential developments, hotels, leisure centres and manufacturing. Virtu allows businesses to maximise the potential of their roof space by generating more energy per m2 than other solar technologies. VirtuHOT (solar thermal) and VirtuPVT (combined solar heat and power) produce 50-100% more energy per m2 , deliver three to four times more carbon savings (when compared with PV) and up to 50% greater returns. It is a versatile solution to delivering on a company’s ESG targets. Decarbonisation impact since becoming commercially active in 2018 Naked Energy has sold more than 5,000 Virtu collectors, to over 60 projects in 13 countries. In total Virtu has abated over 274 tonnes of carbon emissions.
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ECOncrete
Barclays’ Sustainable Impact Capital investment in ECOncrete Tech, a pioneering start-up delivering high-performance ecological concrete technologies, demonstrates our support for innovative environmental solutions. The technology seeks to enhance marine life on offshore and coastal infrastructure, which can be used for shoreline protection, waterfront infrastructure and offshore applications. The technology creates new biologically available surfaces for marine life such as oysters, corals or barnacles, while preserving and strengthening the infrastructure’s functional and structural properties. Species like oysters, for example, become a critical ecological stepping stone for additional organisms to live on and around a structure and also act as biological glue, enhancing the strength and durability of structures. Compared with traditional concrete, ECOncrete’s technology has shown the ability to double the biodiversity and abundance of marine species, provide an active carbon sink over the lifespan of the structure, and significantly improve water quality. This is due to their patented admixture and unique design which has been peer revieweda and evaluated by marine scientists. ECOncrete’s activities are helping to solve a key environmental challenge for the coastal and marine industries, improving the health and resilience of surrounding ocean life. Barclays’ support in ECOncrete’s growth ambitions through Sustainable Impact Capital equity investment will help enable ECOncrete to expand rapidly into new markets and scale operations into large-scale projects.
Our Investments
80 Acres Farms
80 Acres Farm is addressing the challenges of sustainability and food security by growing food with vertical farming technology. This uses 99% less land and 97% less water than traditional farming but provides 300 times more yield.
AirEx
AirEx is a fast-growing cleantech start-up, which delivers the first smart airbrick technology in the UK, helping homeowners improve air quality whilst also reducing their energy bills, and accelerating the decarbonisation of the UK housing sector.
Air Protein
Air Protein is crafting the world's first air meats, turning elements in the air into sustainable proteins with a novel carbon-negative process inspired by NASA. This company's aim is to feed the planet's growing population with meat made from air that eliminates the compromise between taste, nutrition and climate threat.
Brill Power
Brill Power’s mission is to harness the potential in novel battery management systems. Their technology improves performance and reduces costs of ownership of stationary & motive power batteries, as an enabling and sustainable technology for society.
Deep Branch
Deep Branch is a carbon dioxide recycling company that uses microorganisms to convert CO2 from industrial emissions into high-quality products to enable global sustainable animal nutrition.
ECOncrete
ECOncrete Tech is a pioneering start-up delivering high-performance ecological concrete technologies. ECOncrete‘s innovative concrete technology enhances marine and coastal infrastructure by inducing the formation of bio-habitats, while preserving functional and structural properties.
Energy Dome
Energy Dome is an energy storage technology company that fights climate change using CO2 as part of the solution to accelerate the world’s transition to renewable energy.
GeoPura
UK green hydrogen pioneer GeoPura is scaling up to replace fossil fuels with zero-emission alternatives. Its replacing traditional diesel generators with its world leading Hydrogen Power Unit (HPU) technology, with plans to grow the use of hydrogen into other hard-to-decarbonise areas of our energy system to support decarbonisation goals.
HT Materials Science
HT Materials Science is the developer of Maxwell™, an innovative heat transfer fluid that reduces energy consumption in commercial buildings by up to 15%.
Origami
Origami is using state-of-the-art smart technology to help companies utilise green energy, and therefore harness the opportunities provided by the global transition away from fossil fuels towards net zero.
Naked Energy
Naked Energy is a British solar tech developer of world-leading solar thermal tubes, which are three to four times more efficient than traditional solar panels.
Nuada
Nuada is a vertically integrated carbon capture company that is poised to decarbonise heavy industries through its next generation technology. The company builds energy-efficient CO2 filtration machines that enable industrial emitters to decarbonise in a cost-effective manner.
Protium
Protium is a green hydrogen energy company that provides end-to-end net zero energy solutions for specific end customers with net zero ambitions. It does this by designing, developing, financing, owning, and operating green hydrogen and renewable energy infrastructure assets.
RESPONSIBLE
RESPONSIBLE is a technology company that exists to fight for a circular future. Founded in 2021, the company is on a mission to help solve fashion’s sustainability problem with a new premium take on reCommerce that will open the category to end-customers and brands alike.
SaveMoneyCutCarbon
SaveMoneyCutCarbon is a digital aggregator, providing a unique marketplace focused on sustainability. Offering cost-effective products and solutions to businesses and consumers seeking to reduce their carbon footprint and be more sustainable.
Sunswap
Sunswap is a clean technology company that is accelerating the efforts of the logistics industry to reduce its CO2 emissions by offering a fully electric, zero-emission alternative to diesel-powered transport refrigeration units used for transporting chilled and frozen goods.
Zedify
Zedify is the UK’s largest electric cargo bike delivery network, providing a zero emissions service that focuses on ‘first and last mile’ deliveries within city centres. Zedify helps create cities that are cleaner, healthier and better for everyone.
ZeroAvia
From 20 seat regional trips to over 100 seat long-distance flights, ZeroAvia enables scalable, sustainable aviation by replacing conventional engines with hydrogen-electric powertrains.
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Principal Investments (PI) make strategic investments and enable entrepreneurial ideas to grow by investing, while monetising mature assets to recycle capital, with purpose.
1. Orginate
- Develop relationships
- Identify trends
- Incubate ideas
- Identify technology
2. Execute
- Evaluate opportunities
- Secure partnerships
- Support balance sheet restructuring
3. Scale
- Provide growth capital
- Connect to the Barclays ecosystem
- Board/Shareholder representation
- Commercialisation of opportunities
- Turnaround strategies
4. Monetise
- Trade sale
- IPO
- Secondary Sale
- Re-cycle capital
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Leverage Barclays resources to create and further enhance an ecosystem that supports green financing. Through growth capital and dynamic collaboration, we co-create a vision to build the impactful companies of tomorrow.
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