Iona Capital

IEILP was established in 2011 to attract institutional investors to invest in Anaerobic Digestion (AD) or In-vessel composting (IVC) plant operations, or companies demonstrating similar investment characteristics

IEILP 2 was established in 2013 with a similar investment mandate to IEILP 1. It closed at £120m and has subsequently been fully invested in large electrical anaerobic digestion plants and biomass combined heat and power infrastructure, often in partnership with commercial power offtakers. The build out of the IEILP 2 assets has been completed, and these assets are now contributing to the decarbonisation of the UK electricity grid.

In parallel with the raise of IEILP 2, Iona Capital also raised a £25m regional fund for investment in environmental infrastructure to support the economy of North West England. This fund has invested in anaerobic digestion, biomass cogeneration assets, and advanced bio waste treatment technologies.

IEILP 3 is being raised with a similar investment mandate and strategy to the previous funds. It carried out a soft close of £90m in Autumn 2016, and will close out at £250m in the next 12 to 18 months. Whilst decarbonising the gas grid through the injection of biomethane remains a cornerstone of the investment strategy, the majority of the fund will be invested in energy from waste projects to promote efficient resource recovery and divert waste from UK land fill.

The issue of climate change is one that has rapidly gained traction in the last ten years as there has been an unprecedented increase in the Earth's temperature. Scientist's argue that the reason behind this involves the trapping of the sun's heat in the Earth's lower atmosphere, due to greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere re-reflecting heat energy back onto the earth.

The UK has specific targets which need to be met if the country is going to meet its commitments under the Paris Accords. Whilst the decarbonisation of the UK electricity grid is notable success story, there is still a significant increase in renewable electricity generation capacity required over the next two decades. Much more investment and innovation is required to decarbonise the provision of heat and transport. Iona Capital aims to support these national objectives by investing in environmental infrastructure such as heat networks, energy from waste and anaerobic digestion projects whilst closely monitoring the changing commercial viability of nascent technologies such geothermal heat and power, hydrogen and tidal energy conversion.

The integration of renewable technologies and bridging technologies such as natural gas cogeneration provides energy users with cost effective solutions to significantly reduce the carbon intensity of goods and services.

A key part of meeting the requirements of the Paris Accords is promoting the move from a linear to a circular economy where resources and energy is reused, recycled and remains within the economic system to a far greater extent. Infrastructure which promotes resource efficiency and the circular economy has the potential to significantly contribute to limiting climate change to two degrees.