London has attracted a tech fund led by Saudi Aramco, BP and other oil majors looking to collaborate and innovate
A $1bn (£818.8m) energy fund backed by Saudi Aramco, BP and eight other global oil majors will make London its home in a new vote of confidence for the City post-Brexit.
Oil and Gas Climate Initiative's (OGCI) Climate Investments fund aims to invest in and accelerate the commercial development of new emissions-reducing technology. It first announced its plan to push £1bn over 10 years into tech innovation in 2016.
OGCI is the first tenant signed up at Central Working White City, a first-of-its-kind project with space for 400 growing businesses, created by shared workspace provider Central Working and Imperial College London.
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The new space will encourage OGCI to collaborate with London's research experts and exciting startup community, said Dominic Emery, interim chief executive of OGCI.
Emery said:
Collaboration will prove vital in tackling the climate challenge. Imperial College London provides access to the university’s world-leading energy and engineering research, while basing Climate Investments from Central Working presents the invaluable opportunity to tap into the UK’s innovative growing business community.
White City will open in May in the newly finished translation and innovation hub at Imperial's White City Campus. It will give tenants access to other Central Working sites and Imperial's network of researchers, academics and other corporate partners.
James Layfield, founder of Central Working, said: "By bridging the gap between this leading educational institution, the capital’s most exciting growing companies and multinational corporates, we will ensure London remains the global city of choice for innovative business ideas."
Central Working White City, at Imperial College London (Source: Central Working)
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When the fund was set up last year, the bosses of the 10 oil and gas firms that make up OGCI said it shows their determination to deliver new technology and represents an "unprecedented" level of collaboration and resource-sharing in the industry.
"We are personally committed to ensuring that by working with others our companies play a key role in reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, while still providing the energy the world needs," the group said.
OGCI's member companies represent 20 per cent of global oil and gas production.
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