In brief: Saudi Aramco allocates $1.5bn to climate VC

Aramco, the Saudi Arabian energy oil company with a market cap of over $2 trillion, has unveiled a $1.5 billion sustainability fund focused on energy transition. The fund will be managed by Aramco Ventures, the company’s venture capital arm.

The fund, which will invest worldwide, plans to target technologies that support Aramco’s net-zero 2050 ambition as well as the development of new lower-carbon fuels. Initial focus areas will include carbon capture and storage, greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, nature-based climate solutions, digital sustainability, hydrogen, ammonia and synthetic fuels.

“The sustainability fund reinforces our commitment to leverage innovative technologies that will make a difference in addressing the dual challenge of achieving greater energy security and sustainability, and show how these two great imperatives can and must co-exist,” Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said in a statement.

Aramco chairman HE Yasir Al-Rumayyan said: “By driving large-scale investments and building key domestic, regional and international partnerships, Aramco aims to enable a stable and inclusive energy transition that meets the world’s need for energy with lower emissions.”