The Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) has invested a further £100m into Gresham House’s Sustainable Infrastructure (BSIF) strategy to help accelerate the deployment of new solutions to address key environmental and societal challenges in the North West.

Through the commitment, GMPF aims to gain greater exposure to innovative solutions and technologies including vertical farming, biodiversity net gain (BNG) credits, and low-carbon biofuel production in the North West and beyond.

According to GMPF, directing investments towards these areas has the potential to deliver robust returns while accelerating the levelling up agenda to empower regional communities.

Gresham House and GMPF have worked in a partnership since 2019, with the original North West fund co-investment already having helped to create over 215 skilled new jobs in the region, as well as supporting more than 1,650 new careers throughout the UK.

Other benefits to the region have included connecting more than 100,000 homes and businesses to full-fibre broadband, as well as creating thousands of hectares of new biodiversity habitats and by growing leafy greens using up to 1,900 times less carbon than imported field-grown crops.

GMPF chair, Cllr Ged Cooney, commented: “We are committed to creating a positive social and environmental impact for communities in the North West.

“Building on our previous successful investments with the Gresham House team, this £100m commitment will give us greater access to attractive and meaningful, local investment opportunities, from connecting thousands of homes to full-fibre broadband to producing low-carbon biofuels from used cooking oil.

“The scale of infrastructure investment required presents compelling opportunities to help develop the critical assets that will improve lives and deliver lasting local economic and environmental benefits.”

Gresham House managing director of sustainable infrastructure, Peter Bachmann, added: “The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) sector has a proud history of seeking out investment opportunities that deliver positive environmental and social impact without sacrificing the potential for attractive risk-adjusted returns.

“We’re very grateful to GMPF and our other LPs whose backing enables us to direct capital into the areas where real asset-based solutions can have the biggest impact.

“We look forward to creating even greater benefits for GMPF’s members and communities in the North West and beyond.”

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