UAE’s ALTÉRRA invests in fund backing fossil gas despite “climate solutions” pledge

(Climate Change News, Broadstairs UK, 27 July 2024) As world leaders gathered in Dubai at the start of COP28 last December, the United Arab Emirates dropped a surprise headline-grabbing announcement. The host nation of the UN talks promised to put $30 billion into a new climate fund aimed at speeding up the energy transition and building climate resilience, especially in the Global South. ALTÉRRA was billed as the world’s largest private investment vehicle to “focus entirely on climate solutions”. COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber hailed its launch as “a defining moment” for creating a new era of international climate finance. Yet four months later, one of the initial funds ALTÉRRA backed with a $300-million commitment agreed to buy a major fossil gas pipeline in North America, Climate Home has discovered. Climate Home’s findings “confirm our worst fears”. “The ALTÉRRA fund uses a masquerade of green progress while funnelling investment into fossil fuel pipelines and gas projects, which are the biggest causes of the climate crisis,”