Partners Capital announced the closing of its inaugural private equity environmental impact fund, Partners Capital 15 degrees Fund, LP., with $143 million in client commitments. The fund has strong support from a variety of limited partners globally, including foundations, endowments and family offices.

The Partners Capital 15 degrees Fund will invest in private equity opportunities focusing on proven technological innovations and long-established businesses which are most critical to the global energy transition to net zero carbon emissions. The private equity investment partnership will invest via specialist fund managers as well as direct co-investments in a diversified set of environmental sustainability sectors and themes, including renewable energy generation & storage, transportation & mobility, industrial processes & management, food & agriculture, smart buildings, and water, waste, plastic & recycling.

John Beil, Head of Private Equity and Real Estate, leading the 15 degrees investment portfolio said, “We are very excited about investing behind this mega-trend, while also being acutely cautious. The energy transition will provide many high-impact, high-returning opportunities, but is critically dependent upon many scientific, technological, regulatory, geopolitical and consumer behaviour developments which are highly complex and largely unknown today as we describe in detail in our recently published Partners Capital Global Energy Transition Investment Framework.”

This is Partners Capital’s first dedicated impact fund, building on a 20-year history of investments across its private markets program. Partners Capital’s Co-Chief Investment Officer, Suzanne Streeter commented that, “Partners Capital will leverage its 20-year history of private equity investments, deep and experienced team and strong network to invest 15 degrees across venture capital, growth and buyout opportunities with exposure to hard-to-access specialist managers and newer emerging managers who are well-positioned to understand this complex landscape. It is a very short list of private equity firms who bring years of successful green energy investment experience to the opportunity set that lies ahead. We believe we have assembled that group of managers who will have significant impact on the energy transition and deliver strong returns at the same time.” As of 31 March 2022, Partners Capital oversaw approximately $6B in commitments to private equity and commits c.$1.5B each year to new opportunities.