Ardian Infrastructure was lauded by the independent panel of judges as “brave” and a “first mover” as they voted it to win IJGlobal ESG Infrastructure Equity Investor of the Year for 2022.

Having waded through all the submissions for this coveted award, one of the judges said Ardian had presented “very tangible examples of 1.5°C and 2°C scenario assessment that sets it apart”.

Another judge said: “Ardian has definitely been brave and a first mover in infrastructure in the riskier area of hydrogen – this will be a wider reality in infra probably in a decade, and hopefully Ardian's current bets will prove successful.”

In support of climate action specifically, Ardian complements data collection with analysis to understand assets’ carbon footprint, model projected emissions, and assess gaps with Well Below 2°C and 1.5°C trajectories. When applicable, it also estimates avoided emissions.

According to Ardian’s submission: “We additionally assess climate-related risks and opportunities, using a tailored methodology that takes into account sectoral risks and opportunities, climate commitments of countries of operation, and assets’ maturity on the management of climate issues. This analysis is incorporated into the action road maps.”

The results of Ardian’s full-year 2021 sustainability campaign revealed portfolio achievements including that 93% of portfolio assets had adopted a climate action plan to reduce their emissions, and that 41% of portfolio Scopes 1 and 2 emissions were covered by a science-based target and 3 assets had validated targets with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Further, Scopes 1 and 2 emissions had decreased by 8% in 2021 compared to 2019 proforma scope.

As to the governance element, Ardian reported that non-fatal occupational injuries rates per 100,000 employees had decreased by 36%; that the average wage gap had decreased by 3%; and that the number of women on executive committees had increased by 6%.

Ardian has also developed in-house applications to accelerate the decarbonisation of its assets. On the air carbon front, it has already deployed at Turin and Naples airports (soon at both Milan airports) tools to estimate and forecast key Scope 3 carbon emissions at facilities in real time. It has also engaged OPTA to optimise the management of renewable assets through enhanced digital capabilities.

Hydrogen

On the hydrogen front, Ardian has identified this as a key to achieving global energy transition and launched Hy24, the world's largest clean hydrogen infrastructure investment fund.

In October 2021, Ardian and FiveT Hydrogen announced the creation of Hy24, a JV intended to become the manager of the world's largest fund dedicated to low-carbon hydrogen infrastructure.

The fund is the result of an initiative by Air Liquide, TotalEnergies and VINCI Concessions, combined with Plug Power, Chart Industries and Baker Hughes – organisations that share the common objective of accelerating developments in the hydrogen industry.

The fund also attracted other key industrial partners such as LOTTE Chemical, Snam, Enagás and GRTgaz and key financial investors such as AXA, CCR, Crédit Agricole Assurances and JBIC, as well as other investors including ADP Group, Ballard, EDF, and Schaeffler. In July 2022, Airbus joined the fund.

Hy24’s Clean H2 Infra Fund, which is classified as an Article 9 fund under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (a product that has sustainable investment as its objective), will finance strategic hydrogen projects for the energy transition with an initial fund of €2 billion.

Its objective is to bring together international institutional investors and industrial companies to enable the scaling up of hydrogen projects and increase investment capacity in the sector globally.

The platform responds both to the growing demand from governments and private players and to the current global climate challenge: $100 trillion invested in hydrogen would be needed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Hy24 will operate from France, Switzerland, the US and Singapore.

Hy24 has already made three investments to date: a €200 million investment in February 2022 in Hy2gen AG; acquired a 30% stake in Enagás Renovable, a Spanish renewable energy-to-gas company with a portfolio of over 50 projects in Spain; and invested €70 million in H2 MOBILITY Deutschland alongside existing shareholders Air Liquide, Daimler Truck, Hyundai, Linde, OMV, Shell and TotalEnergies, who invested an additional amount of €40 million. H2 MOBILITY is one of the leading operators of hydrogen filling stations in Germany.