Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc., a top investor in climate solutions, and KKR, a leading global investment firm, have agreed to set up CarbonCount Holdings 1 LLC to invest up to a combined $2 billion in projects that have a positive impact on the climate across the United States.
Under the agreement, signed on May 4, 2024, HASI and KKR have both initially committed up to $1 billion to CCH1, to invest up to a total of $2 billion in clean energy assets over the next 18 months. HASI will find and oversee the projects for CCH1, maintain the connection with its clients, and gauge the emissions avoided by all investments in CCH1 using its own CarbonCount® scoring tool. These investments will be in line with HASI’s existing investment strategy which focuses on behind-the-meter, grid-connected, renewable natural gas, and transport projects.
When completed, CCH1 will be started with assets representing roughly 10% of the total committed amount of up to $2 billion.
“Our strong partnership with KKR perfectly matches our Climate Clients Assets strategy, allowing us to benefit from our ambitious pipeline of opportunities and expand our business,said Jeffrey A. Lipson, President and Chief Executive Officer of HASI.We are eager to work with the KKR team, who share our dedication to speeding up the energy transition and whose interest in the relationship shows HASI’s history of success.”
“CCH1 is a significant step in our goal to move to a more capital-light model and lessen our dependence on public stock markets for growth,said Marc Pangburn, Chief Financial Officer of HASI.This deal further strengthens the resilient, non-cyclical nature of our business.”
“HASI has constructed an impressive collection of sustainable infrastructure projects through strategic partnerships and we believe their future opportunities will work well with KKR’s existing clean energy investing strategy,said Cecilio Velasco, Managing Director on KKR’s Infrastructure team.We are looking forward to collaborating to advance projects in the sustainable infrastructure space and speed up the energy transition.”
With over 15 years of experience in infrastructure investing, KKR has invested more than $15 billion in renewable energy and climate-related investments solely from its infrastructure platform. According to BloombergNEF, KKR is the 10th largest owner of solar assets operating and under construction in the U.S. KKR is funding the investment from its core infrastructure strategy.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as the financial advisor for KKR, and Lazard served as the financial advisor for HASI.
CarbonCount: Measuring the Climate Impact of Every Investment
HASI only invests in assets that are neutral to negative on incremental carbon emissions or have some other tangible environmental benefit, such as reducing water consumption. Since 2013, HASI has tracked and reported on the impact of all its investments using CarbonCount, a tool for assessing real assets to find out how effectively each dollar of invested money reduces yearly carbon dioxide emissions. This new method promotes transparency in project finance by creating an easy and comparable measure for evaluating infrastructure projects based on the amount of capital investment contributing to reducing climate change.
