As climate change bites, a host of firms have started to develop ‘cleantech’ to cut emissions and help people cope with its effects. Decarbonizing the economy and fostering innovation are fast becoming sources of growth and new industry. With a focus on sustainability and shifting to greener energy, BBVA invests in such ventures, supports firms with tailored finance, and offers advice through specialist funds.
Innovation has always driven sustainability, and fresh clean technologies will be central to cutting carbon. In its report Energy Technology Perspectives 2024, the International Energy Agency says it expects cleantech transactions to hit $575 trillion by 2035, nearly three times the total for 2023. A ‘report’ by Cleantech for Iberia, led by BBVA, forecasts that in the Iberian Peninsula alone, clean technology will draw more than €150 billion of investment and create 2.65 million jobs by 2030.
Some mature clean technologies, such as renewables, now compete on cost with fossil fuels and are ready for widespread use.
Others are still taking shape. These second-tier early-stage solutions, often burdened with extra costs, or a “green premium”, have yet to turn a profit. To get off the ground, they need fresh investment to fund their first deployments. With enough backing, these first-of-a-kind (FOAK) technologies might then scale up and drive wider change. Examples include carbon capture and storage, sustainable fuels for hard-to-decarbonize sectors like aviation, and new ways to store energy. Consulting firm McKinsey reckons that just one in ten low-emission technologies needed to meet the world’s climate goals for 2050 exist today.
Financing and advising innovation-led energy transition
Technological breakthroughs and disruption are essential for decarbonising economies. BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila notes: "Just as we pioneered investment in fintech to speed up our digital transformation, we are now investing in leading funds dedicated to clean technologies."
BBVA has invested over $300m worldwide in climate-focused funds. These investments directly support technology and infrastructure designed to cut emissions. The bank has taken stakes in influential funds such as Hy24, Lowercarbon, Fifth Wall, Just Climate, Suma Capital, Descarbonization Partners I, KKR and TPG. Together, these funds back more than 200 innovative firms working either on disruptive clean technologies or on measures aimed at decarbonizing the broader economy. Among these investments, BBVA’s strategic partnership with KKR stands out: the bank committed $200m to support the shift towards a low-carbon economy.
To speed up financing for clean technologies and widen its range of sustainable services, BBVA has set up a dedicated cleantech unit. Specialist teams based in Houston, New York, London and Madrid offer advisory services and financing globally.
BBVA is concentrating its efforts on four key technologies to cut emissions:
- Hydrogen and biofuels: Together with other financial institutions, BBVA has taken part in a €6bn investment in Stegra. This funding is for the world’s first steel plant, located in Sweden, that will run on hydrogen. The plant will produce water vapor instead of carbon dioxide.
- Energy storage: BBVA has also participated in financing Nova Power Bank, providing €1bn to support a 680MW energy-storage project in California. Another example is BBVA's partnership with Malta Inc., a specialist in long-duration electrothermal energy storage.
- Mobility: BBVA and other institutions contributed to a €1.2bn funding package for AESC (Envision), to build an electric-vehicle battery gigafactory in France with a 9GW annual capacity. Additionally, the bank participated in an €800m investment in Ricarica in Italy to expand electric-vehicle charging networks.
- Carbon capture: BBVA has supported bp, Equinor and TotalEnergies in funding worth €9.6bn to launch the UK's first carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects.
Within this cleantech ecosystem, BBVA also supports rapidly growing technology startups through BBVA Spark, the bank's specialized unit dedicated to entrepreneurs and venture capital investors, providing structured financing products (such as venture debt), as well as agile, flexible financial solutions that align with their specific needs and growth stages.
Joining forces to accelerate decarbonization with cleantech
BBVA also participates in initiatives like ‘Cleantech for Iberia’, whose objective is promoting regulatory frameworks that speed up clean technology deployment in Spain and Portugal, and building a cleantech ecosystem to serve as a global reference.
Together with BloombergNEF, a research and analysis firm, BBVA has agreed to deepen its understanding of the energy transition and cleantech sector. This collaboration will equip BBVA’s experts to adapt to industry changes and create fresh opportunities for clients.
For the second year running, BBVA also hosted the Energy Tech Summit in Bilbao, Spain. More than 1,500 clean-energy specialists attended from over 40 countries. The bank was the event's main sponsor and ran several side sessions to encourage ecosystem networking among attendees.
At the event, BBVA also announced the signing of a project finance loan with Basque Hydrogen, a joint venture formed by Petronor, Enagás Renovables, and the Basque Energy Agency, to support the development of an electrolytic hydrogen plant for the production of synthetic fuels (e-fuels) at the Port of Bilbao. This is the first project finance deal for a green hydrogen plant on the Iberian Peninsula.
Learn more about cleantech
To raise awareness, BBVA published a monograph devoted entirely to clean technologies, exploring their potential for growth as an ecosystem. It also partnered with Ethic magazine to produce ‘Cleantech Way’, launched at the ‘Ágora Cleantech’ conference. The publication examines four technologies that together could solve the “decarbonisation puzzle”: electrification, circularity, green fuels, and carbon capture and storage.