Clara Barby, Just Climate

Just Climate, the climate-as-an-asset-class firm founded this year by Generation Investment Management, has appointed an impact investing veteran to run the business, the firm said on Thursday.

Clara Barby, who joins as senior partner, has an impact pedigree that includes leading the Impact Management Project and, in 2021, the IFRS Foundation’s work to establish the International Sustainability Standards Board, as announced at COP26. Barby spent more than 10 years as a partner at pioneering impact firm Bridges Fund Management, latterly on secondment to the IMP.

Just Climate’s team comprises a combination of Generation Investment Management personnel with “a new set of fully dedicated team members”, the firm said. Former US vice-president and Generation founder Al Gore chairs Just Climate’s impact advisory council, while Generation senior partner David Blood is chair of the new firm. Four other Generation executives have joined Just Climate’s leadership team, while Shaun Kingsbury, former CEO of UK Green Investment Bank, is the firm’s CIO.

Barby brings “significant expertise in understanding the relevance of impact in capital allocation as well as building teams”, said Blood, adding that her “effectiveness in bringing together different stakeholders will be invaluable to Just Climate which believes that working with others across the investment management sector, businesses and governments is the best way to deliver on its mission”.

Said Barby: “Rigorous climate-led investing has an important place in institutional portfolios, but we need a platform that can invest at scale in the hardest to de-carbonise sectors and more challenging geographies. This will take partnerships across the private and public sectors, and a commitment to define success and measure progress with stakeholders most affected by the transition.”