Fifth Wall Urges the Real Estate Industry to Address Climate Change By Investing in Climate Tech Now
VC Firm Turns to Street Art to Raise Awareness About the Real Estate Industry's Impact on Climate Change and Encourage the Sector to "Choose Earth"
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Fifth Wall, the largest venture capital firm focused on technologies for the global real estate industry, kicks off a global mural campaign to raise awareness about the real estate industry's culpability in the climate crisis. The installations will be placed in major cities to align with key sustainability conferences and events around the world. The campaign starts in New York, timed with ClimateWeek, followed by additional installations in Los Angeles, then in Glasgow, Scotland, aligned with COP26, the UN Climate Change conference.
The real estate industry is the world's largest contributor to the climate crisis, accounting for approximately 40% of global energy, greenhouse gases, and raw materials. While other industries have committed billions of dollars in technology to directly address climate change, the real estate industry has historically underinvested in the climate tech necessary to decarbonize the $9 trillion real estate industry. Rough estimates show that the global real estate industry needs over $20 trillion to decarbonize, yet over the past 10 years, the real estate industry has only invested approximately $95 million into climate tech.
Fifth Wall launched its Climate Tech Fund as a solution to help the real estate industry make meaningful investments into critical climate technology for decarbonizing. With its ambitious target of $500 million, Fifth Wall's Climate Tech Fund represents the first time the real estate industry has come together, collectively and cooperatively, to help close this alarming funding gap and reduce the real estate industry's outsized carbon footprint. The fund will represent one of the largest pools of capital ever assembled to support the technologies and solutions that can truly make a difference in the real estate industry. Yesterday, Fifth Wall announced the fund has raised over $140 million from major real estate players, including new investors such as Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR), Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP), and Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE: KIM) who joined existing investors, Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH) and Ivanhoé Cambridge. The firm also announced that Peter Gajdoš has joined as a Partner and will co-lead Fifth Wall's Climate Tech Investment team.
"The goal of this campaign is to make people stop and think about the global real estate industry's impact on the climate crisis and the current state of our planet. We want to inspire entrepreneurial minds to invent climate technologies that can be used in the Built Environment," said Brendan Wallace Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Fifth Wall. "In order to disrupt real estate's paralysis when it comes to climate, the industry must come together to aggregate capital and resources to make meaningful investments into climate technology. We believe decarbonization is a collective-action problem and therefore requires a collective-action solution."
The New York installation was created in collaboration with BBMG, a branding and social impact agency and local muralist, Steffi Lynn. The mural reads "Before we build on other planets, shouldn't we clean up our own? Choose Earth. Invest in climate tech now." Located at 11 Franklin Street in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, the goal of the mural is to raise awareness of real estate's role in the climate crisis and the need for significant investment into climate tech innovation. It encourages people to address the immediate issues Earth is facing, before stretching their reach to outer space. Swift action needs to be taken in order to make a difference and to cut carbon emissions.
As a small business owner and artist, Steffi has made it part of her personal mission to better the Earth. She uses environmentally conscious materials, including Graphenstone paint which is a natural and sustainable coating formulated without toxic chemicals and free of microplastics. She believes murals are a unique, eye-catching way to draw attention to important topics that are often disregarded by the general public. To learn more about Steffi and her recent work, please visit her site www.steffilynn.com.
About Fifth Wall
Founded in 2016 and based in Los Angeles, California, Fifth Wall, a Certified B Corporation, is the largest venture capital firm focused on technology-driven innovation for the global real estate industry. With approximately $2.5 billion in commitments and capital under management, Fifth Wall connects many of the world's largest owners and operators of real estate with the entrepreneurs who are redefining the future of the Built World. Fifth Wall is backed by a global mix of more than 70+ investors from 15 countries, including Acadia Realty Trust, Azora, BNP Paribas Real Estate, British Land, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, D.R. Horton, Equity Residential, Gecina, GLP, Hines, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hudson Pacific Properties, Invitation Homes, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Jamestown, Kimco Realty Corporation, Knight Frank, Lennar, Lowe's Home Improvement, Macerich, Marriott International, MERLIN Properties, MetLife Investment Management, Mitsubishi Estate, News Corp, MOMENI, Nuveen Real Estate, PGIM Real Estate, Pontos Group, Prologis, PulteGroup, Related Companies, SEGRO, Starwood Capital, Toll Brothers, Vanke, and others. Fifth Wall believes this strategic corporate consortium represents one of the largest groups of potential partners in the global Built World ecosystem, which can result in game-changing investments and collaborations in promising portfolio companies in retail, residential and multi-family, commercial, industrial, hospitality, and more. For more information about Fifth Wall, its partners, and portfolio, visit www.fifthwall.com.
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