Blackstone has launched Blackstone Credit’s Sustainable Resources Platform, which will focus on investing in and lending to renewable energy companies and those supporting the energy transition.
This initiative brings together Blackstone Credit’s scale and expertise in these areas with the firm’s ESG and portfolio operations capabilities to deliver value by providing new solutions and sources of capital to companies driving the broader energy transition.
“The launch of this platform demonstrates our conviction in the investment opportunities presented by the energy transition,” says Jon Gray, president and COO of Blackstone. “Companies globally are shifting to meet this demand. We believe private capital is essential to supporting decarbonization goals and our scale allows us to play a major role.”
Since 2019, Blackstone has committed over $15 billion in investments that the firm believes are consistent with the broader energy transition. Blackstone anticipates that its capital deployment in this space will continue to grow. Across its businesses, Blackstone sees an opportunity to invest an estimated $100 billion in energy transition and climate change solutions projects over the next decade.
“Blackstone Credit’s unmatched scale is being unleashed to support companies that are driving the energy transition,” states Dwight Scott, global head of Blackstone Credit. “We are excited to launch this dedicated financing platform to build on the over $15 billion that Blackstone has committed since 2019 in investments that we believe are consistent with the broader energy transition.”
Blackstone Credit’s Sustainable Resources Platform is a dedicated credit platform that seeks to address the growing challenges, investment needs and expertise required by this transition. It is led by Robert Horn, who has been with Blackstone Credit since its founding, and has been named global head of the Sustainable Resources Group for Blackstone Credit. Simon Hayden has joined the firm from EIG, and he is a senior managing director for Blackstone Credit in London and leads the sustainable resources activities in Europe.
The Sustainable Resources Platform includes more than 30 investment professionals across North America and Europe, supported by the portfolio operations teams at Blackstone. Newly hired global head of ESG for Blackstone, Jean Rogers, the founder of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and Rita Mangalick, head of ESG for Blackstone Credit, will advise investment teams, oversee ESG diligence and support other initiatives for the platform.
The platform will invest across the credit spectrum in investment grade credit, non-investment grade credit, and preferred and convertible securities. It will focus on residential solar and home efficiency; renewable electricity generation and storage; products, services, technologies and natural resources that enable the energy transition; decarbonized transportation; sustainability linked loans; green financings that fund environmental projects; and other energy infrastructure investments.
“We believe large scale and flexible capital are essential to funding decarbonization,” comments Robert Horn, global head of the Sustainable Resources Group for Blackstone Credit. “We look forward to providing efficient capital and Blackstone’s expertise to companies across a range of sectors that we believe are driving this important transition.”
