IFM Investors’ first chief strategy officer is zeroing in on climate investing. Newly-appointed Luba Nikulina, who was previously global head of research at investment consultant WTW, has a mandate to give LPs access to decarbonisation-related investments, she told affiliate publication Infrastructure Investor’s Zak Bentley. She is “thinking about the whole systemic risk and climate change, decarbonisation of the economy, technology and digitalisation… So my mandate will be to look into institutional investors’ demand across the world and help [them take part in this] growing market.”

The old infrastructure investment models are “ripe for innovation” in the age of decarbonisation, Nikulina said. “There is definitely scope for creating better solutions for investors to get access to this growth opportunity. There is potential to do something different on the return scale of the spectrum and what type of assets you put together in an investment vehicle. Essentially, you need to do something with the existing assets to help them decarbonise. Then you also need to be investing in new technologies.”

IFM is raising a Net Zero Infrastructure Fund – an open-ended fund with a $3 billion target. The firm has set a portfolio-wide 2050 net zero target.

Read Zak Bentley’s full interview here (registration or subscription required).