Fossil fuels are a dead end, and the infrastructure built around them isn’t sustainable. The future of our planet depends on our ability to transition to a sustainable energy system.
Fossil fuels are a dead end, and the infrastructure built around them isn’t sustainable. The future of our planet depends on our ability to transition to a sustainable energy system.
This means we must transition to green energy and sustainable infrastructure – and do it fast.
At Octopus Investments, we got involved in the sector over a decade ago, so we know first-hand that two things are critical to accelerating this shift and making a greener future a reality.
The first is private capital. Whether that’s money from retail investors or money from large institutional investors, capital has an enormous power to direct investment into the green agenda and create positive change.
And secondly, entrepreneurial companies. They can seize opportunities, disrupt the status quo, and imagine a better tomorrow.
An early mover in renewable energy
Scaling up Europe’s renewables is an essential first step in achieving net zero.
Over ten years, we built a leading renewable energy investment business.
By 2021, we had grown a team of 80 people that managed more than £3.4 billion across 250 large-scale assets and nearly 3,500 solar rooftops in seven countries, generating enough renewable energy to power more than 1.2 million homes.
Then came an opportunity to make an even bigger difference.
One of the unexpected benefits of our involvement in renewable energy investment was that it opened our eyes to some of the inefficiencies and customer failings within the broader energy market.
This is why, in 2015, the wider Octopus Group backed fellow entrepreneur Greg Jackson to build Octopus Energy, a tech company supplying customers with green electricity.
To accelerate its mission to drive the affordable, green energy system of the future, Octopus Energy Group took the strategic decision in 2021 to bring Octopus Energy Generation under the same roof, bringing an abundance of green electrons to the group.
This combination of technology, supply, generation and investment expertise offers investors in Octopus Energy Generation unparalleled insight into the full energy supply chain, taking a tech-led approach with the team closer than ever to the end customer.
Beyond renewables: Scaling sectors and technologies
Renewable energy generation and supply is one part of tackling the climate emergency.
And Octopus is on a mission to invest in the people, ideas and industries that will change the world. So naturally, we’re looking to scale sectors and technologies similar to how we’ve helped renewables.
Achieving net zero will require developing and rolling out a new wave of emerging infrastructure businesses and adapting existing ones across sectors like electric vehicle charging, large-scale battery storage and more.
And it will require the same recipe that has helped renewables to grow to the scale it has so far: private capital committed purposefully to sustainable infrastructure and backing entrepreneurs with a vision for the future and a proven technology.
Building a sustainable planet
We’re enthusiastic about what the future holds for Octopus Energy Group – and we know it can make a huge difference in helping people and the planet.
Watch the Sustainable Planet video from our Agents of Change documentary series, where you can learn more about our mission and hear from Octopus Energy on our YouTube.
