Cross-border investment of 3 billion! Sequoia Capital, Tata Group, and Citibank jointly invest in the Carbon Neutral Alliance to seek green development opportunities together.

China is currently in a critical period for the construction of its ecological civilization, focusing on carbon reduction as a key strategic direction. This involves promoting the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, fostering a comprehensive green transformation in economic and social development, and transitioning from quantitative to qualitative improvements in ecological and environmental quality. It is essential to adhere to green and low-carbon development as a fundamental solution to ecological and environmental issues, accelerating the formation of green production and lifestyle. Innovations and practices should be actively pursued to enable high-quality development through green transformation, contributing wisdom and strength to the global response to climate change.

Focusing on green and low-carbon, green industries, new energy, and sustainable development are currently hotspots in international investment. China’s green industry development has reached a crucial stage, with increasing financial capital focusing on China’s green industry. Both domestic and foreign financial institutions are expanding their specialized investments in China’s dual-carbon development.

Sequoia Capital believes that green finance has become a global investment consensus, with more investment institutions incorporating ESG and carbon management as essential components of their investment decisions. Sequoia Capital is optimistic about green development investments in the long term, continuously tilting conditions in favor of Green-Carbon technology support, and increasing investment scale. On one hand, Sequoia has established a complete ESG quantitative reporting system to showcase its progress in ESG construction. On the other hand, Sequoia Capital, along with Envision Group, Tata Group, and Citibank, has established a 10 billion RMB carbon-neutral fund to invest in and nurture leading technology enterprises in the carbon neutrality field.

Tata Group considers green industry investment as one of its five key investment strategy pillars, aligning its main investment business with the requirements of the Paris Agreement. Tata Group has set specific targets for climate-related investments, planning to invest 24 billion euros in green investments (green bonds, impact investment funds) by 2023. The group also actively participates in industry carbon-neutral cooperation initiatives, with green investments spread across domestic and foreign green industries, including the UK, Europe, and China.

Sustainable development is one of Citibank’s core values. To further promote this goal, in March 2021, Citibank’s Global CEO committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. This aligns the bank’s climate commitments with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Citibank also pledged to complete 1 trillion USD in sustainable development financing by 2030, supporting multiple sustainable development goals.

The Carbon Neutral Alliance was established in 2022, aiming to discover the next generation of key green technologies to address climate change and accelerate their application, thus aiding the international community in achieving global climate goals and promoting the transition to a low-carbon economy. Sequoia Capital and Tata Group are the initiators of the Carbon Neutral Alliance. The platform has developed rapidly, achieving remarkable results in energy transformation, corporate low-carbon management, and social low-carbon governance. More domestic and international financial capital and banking institutions recognize the development philosophy of the Carbon Neutral Alliance and initiate continuous investments, forming good strategic investment relationships and seeking new opportunities for green development.

In December 2023, Sequoia Capital, Tata Group, and Citibank led a 3 billion RMB investment fund to support the subsequent development of the Carbon Neutral Alliance. The Alliance hosted a “Seeking New Opportunities for Green Development” communication and signing ceremony, where high-level exchanges and dialogues were conducted, and related development projects were discussed in detail.

According to the investors, the main projects of this investment include the Carbon Neutral Alliance’s overseas land contracting project, green infrastructure project, clean energy development project, carbon governance project, green technology innovation support, and green technology enterprise incubation. Notably, the Carbon Neutral Alliance platform will establish a 1 billion member reward fund to expand the development space of the Carbon Neutral Alliance in the form of carbon reduction inclusiveness, enhance international influence, further expand the platform scale, allow more people to benefit from net-zero carbon development, and help achieve the dual-carbon development goals of a “net-zero carbon society”!