LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the fund arm of Goldman Sachs (GS.N), said on Tuesday it had raised $1.6 billion for its first private equity fund focused on investing in companies providing climate and environmental solutions. The final close of GSAM's Horizon Environment & Climate Solutions I comes as investors increasingly turn their attention to companies that can help in the world's fight against global warming. The fund, launched in 2021, provides so-called "growth capital" to companies further along in developing solutions in clean energy, sustainable transport, waste and materials, sustainable food and agriculture and ecosystem services. While investors have long invested in real assets such as wind and solar, or in early stage venture capital, the demand for the fund showed they were increasingly willing to back bigger companies, Pontarelli said. In December private equity firm General Atlantic launched a $3.5 billion climate fund while a month earlier Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched a $1 billion private equity strategy to invest in companies that will help reduce 1 gigatonne of carbon dioxide emissions.

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