Saudi oil giant Aramco unveils $1.5B sustainability fund
Saudi energy company Aramco has unveiled a $1.5 billion fund for sustainable investments, part of efforts to burnish the state-owned company’s green credentials
Saudi oil and gas company Aramco unveiled a $1.5 billion fund on Wednesday for sustainable investments, part of efforts to burnish the state-owned company's green credentials in an announcement ahead of the U.N. climate conference next month in Egypt.
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said at an investment conference in Saudi Arabia that the fund will focus on “breakthrough technologies that are important and startups that will help us to address climate change."
Nasser billed the fund as one of the world's biggest sustainability-focused venture capital funds and said it would invest globally and launch immediately. He spoke at Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative meeting, sometimes known as “Davos in the Desert,” a comparison to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting of corporate bigwigs and world leaders in the Swiss Alps.
Aramco is one of the largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters. Environmentalists have long accused oil and gas companies of using climate-friendly pledges to “greenwash” their polluting activities.
