Air Liquide Launches Sustainable Investment Platform
French industrial gases group Air Liquide is partnering multinational investment bank Rothschild & Co and environmental NGO Solar Impulse Foundation (SIF) to launch a €200 million growth, buyout and late-stage venture investment fund. The move is part of Air Liquide’s ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050.
The investment platform’s target sectors include clean energy, sustainable food and agriculture, the circular economy, clean water and sanitation, smart cities, sustainable mobility and industrial innovation.
Through its venture capital arm Aliad, Air Liquide will act as advisor to the fund, which will be managed by Rothschild’s merchant banking business. Since its inception in 2013, Aliad has invested nearly €100 million in more than 35 companies.
Also since 2013, Air Liquide has been working with SIF and Bertrand Piccard, the NGO’s founder and initiator and one of the pilots of Solar Impulse II, which completed the very first solar-powered flight around the world on Jul. 26, 2016.
SIF said earlier this year it had identified more than 1,000 profitable solutions that could contribute to protecting the environment. Piccard commented: “Now we need to show that investing in new and clean technologies makes both economic and ecological sense, fostering qualitative growth rather than the quantitative growth we see today. To achieve this, we’ve partnered with reputable institutions with whom we have long-standing relationships and are willing to embark with us on this pioneering journey.”
In March, Air Liquide announced new environmental, social and governance objectives, entitled ACT, centered on three aims – Abating CO2 emissions, Care for patients, and Trust as the base to engage with employees and build best-in-class governance.
These aims essentially include efforts to decarbonize assets, facilitate access to medical oxygen for rural communities in low- and middle-income countries, and care for staff while also promoting inclusion and diversity, and implementing best practice.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
