BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has announced the launch of the BNPP Environmental Infrastructure Income Fund, designed to provide investors with opportunities in long-term themes arising from global investments in environmental infrastructure. The fund is classified as Article 9 under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), affirming its commitment to sustainable investment objectives.
The fund will be managed by Edward Lees and Ulrik Fugmann, Co-Heads of BNPP AM’s Environmental Strategies Group. It will invest in a diversified portfolio of approximately 70-90 holdings, focusing on environmental infrastructure projects across key themes such as Power & Digital Infrastructure, Water & Waste Management, and Transportation Infrastructure.
BNPP AM highlighted that the fund’s launch coincides with significant momentum in maintaining and upgrading critical infrastructure. This is supported by major investment initiatives recently announced in Europe and the United States, aimed at promoting resilient infrastructure and enhancing energy security.
The fund will concentrate on defensive environmental infrastructure companies that gain from increasing demand for power and grid infrastructure, as well as the substantial growth in data centres and related infrastructure. It will also target companies involved in upgrading water and waste infrastructure and those improving global transportation infrastructure.
Additionally, the fund will focus on critical listed infrastructure less affected by economic activity and business cycle changes, avoiding more cyclical infrastructure related to fossil fuels and discretionary social services. Primarily, the fund will target companies in the Utilities and Industrials sectors located in Europe and the United States.
Lees and Fugmann commented, “Global environmental infrastructure unifies the world’s most pronounced megatrends of bolstering energy security, enabling exponential digital innovation, catering for changing demographics and population growth and not least, secure a positive environmental outcome.”
