Environment Agency invests in renewables via Schroders

The £4.6 billion Environment Agency Pension Fund has committed £170 million to a UK private markets fund run by Schroders Greencoat.

The investment into the Greencoat Renewable Income was facilitated by the Brunel Pension Partnership and brings the fund’s total committed capital to £1.35 billion. It is continuing to raise money until the end of this year and has already received investments from other Brunel funds including Avon, Cornwall, Dorset, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

Schroders said the fund has already invested more than £1 billion into UK renewable infrastructure assets that “generate stable, inflation-protected income streams over a long-term horizon”.

Target assets will include wind, solar and bioenergy investments, as well as “opportunistic” allocations to technologies such as heat pumps and green hydrogen electrolysis.

Craig Martin, chief pensions officer at the Environment Agency Pension Fund, said the investment would contribute to the scheme’s target of investing 17% of its total assets in climate solutions by 2025.