Investment manager Nuveen, and its sustainable commercial real estate financing solutions business Nuveen Green Capital (NGC), announced today that it has raised $785 million in new capital commitments to Nuveen C-PACE Lending Fund III, aimed at enabling insurance investors to finance energy efficiency and sustainability projects for commercial real estate.

C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) is a public-private financing program led at the state level, providing building owners and developers with access to capital to fund commercial property improvements towards greater energy efficiency, water conservation and climate resiliency, with repayments made through an assessment on their property tax bill, providing a more affordable financing alternative to mezzanine debt and equity.

The fund marks the third vintage of Nuveen’s C-PACE Lending Funds following the firm’s 2021 acquisition of C-PACE financing company Greenworks, later rebranded as Nuveen Green Capital, aimed at establishing a foothold in the clean energy and energy efficiency lending market. Nuveen said that its C-PACE strategies now total more than $6 billion in AUM.

Joseph Pursley, Nuveen Head of Insurance, Americas, said:

“While sustainability and impact remain key considerations for insurers and their investments, we also continue to see life insurers prioritizing longer duration, investment grade asset backed securities with attractive risk-adjusted returns. NGC’s C-PACE strategies meet both of these considerations, which provide a solution that drives greater climate resiliency while being capital efficient, meets risk requirements and offers scale that insurers are looking for in their investment portfolios.”