More investment needed to make green companies the next Facebook or Google, says BlackRock CEO

More investment needed to make green companies the next Facebook or Google, says BlackRock CEO

RIYADH: Environmentally-focused start-ups will make up the next thousand ‘unicorn’ businesses, billionaire businessman Larry Fink has told the Middle East Green Initiative Summit. The head of US asset management giant BlackRock told delegates at the forum in Riyadh it will be firms producing environmentally-friendly goods and systems that will become the next billion dollar companies — the threshold for being dubbed a ‘unicorn’. Fink said governments, financial service companies and multinational institutions need to work together to achieve a net-zero world, as he talked up the role of private sector investment in hitting this target. Speaking at the event, which is attended by leading figures including the US Climate Change envoy John Kerry, Fink said clean technologies and fuel are more expensive than conventional energy sources due to a “Green Premium". “To bring down this Green Premium we need to be serious about attracting private capital for technology and technology revolution,” he added.