BlackRock raises $250 million for emerging markets-focused climate fund

FILE PHOTO: The BlackRock logo is pictured outside their headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., May 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

(Reuters) - BlackRock Inc, the world's biggest asset manager, said on Thursday it has raised over $250 million for its climate finance fund to invest in select countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

BlackRock's Climate Finance Partnership (CFP) will focus on investing in areas like renewable power generation, energy storage solutions, electrified transportation services and is targeting to raise at least $500 million, the company said.

The partnership's consortium of ten investors included the governments of France, Germany, Japan, and other philanthropies and institutional investors, BlackRock added.

The asset manager said that "significant capital" was required for climate infrastructure in these regions to help reduce carbon emissions.

"This ambitious partnership... will help redirect financial flows toward sustainable development investments across the emerging world, with a priority to Africa," Remy Rioux, chief executive officer of the French Development Agency said.

James and Kathryn Murdoch's Quadrivium Foundation and Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham's Grantham Environmental Trust are also part of the partnership.

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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