LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic on Wednesday named Lance Uggla, former boss of data company IHS Markit, as chief executive of its climate-focused venture BeyondNetZero.
Uggla founded Markit and helped lead a merger with IHS in 2016. He most recently served as CEO and chairman of IHS Markit, which S&P Global bought for $44 billion in February.
BeyondNetZero, founded in partnership with the former chief executive of BP, John Browne, aims to target growth equity investments linked to the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy, such as through decarbonisation or energy efficiency.
With some estimates it could take $3.5 trillion in annual investment to meet the world’s climate goal, General Atlantic Chief Executive Bill Ford said BeyondNetZero would help back and scale promising technologies and companies.
General Atlantic, formed in 1980, currently manages around $84 billion in assets.
Uggla, who earlier in his career also worked for Toronto Dominion Bank and The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said his experience building Markit had shown him how businesses can grow quickly with the right support.
“I look forward to building on BeyondNetZero’s momentum as we continue to identify entrepreneurs who are on the front lines of innovation in this area and partner with them to scale their solutions,” Uggla said.
(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Alexander Smith)