BUDGET 2021: Green Investment Bank Receives $300 Million Capital Injection

New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF) has received an additional $300 million in investment capital, increasing its total pool of investment capital to $400 million.

As one of a global network of green investment banks, NZGIF is focused on identifying investment opportunities that help drive the decarbonisation of New Zealand’s economy. By investing its capital on a commercial basis, it demonstrates and promotes the benefits of green investment to the private sector, with a view to attracting private capital to low carbon co-investment opportunities over time to grow overall investment in decarbonisation.

NZGIF has a long-term mission, recognising the scale of the challenge of attracting capital to low carbon solutions in line with New Zealand’s net-zero 2050 goals. To date, its investments have supported more solar systems on roofs, more electric vehicles on the roads and more clean technology in businesses.

NZGIF has committed to five direct investments to date and has a strong pipeline of opportunities. These investments are estimated to deliver more than 300,000 tonnes of carbon reduction over the lifetime of the underlying assets, along with a range of co-benefits that enable the wider decarbonisation of the economy.

NZGIF has also announced the expansion of its current sector focus to include waste and plastics. NZGIF’s other target sectors, which reflect New Zealand’s unique emissions profile, continue to be transport, process heat, distributed renewable energy, the built environment and agriculture.

NZGIF Chair Cecilia Tarrant says that expanding the target sectors to include plastics and waste recognises that climate action will need to accelerate across many sectors and multiple actors, as shown in the Climate Change Commission’s draft advice. "Today’s announcement increases the opportunities for us to make a difference, with additional capital and a wider set of target sectors."

"This capital injection will allow us to grow our portfolio of investments, target larger transactions, and further demonstrate to private capital markets the benefits and returns from climate investment," says NZGIF CEO Craig Weise.

"With additional scale, we can continue to deliver on our mandate and be even more impactful in the market.

"This is because scale enables the delivery of greater carbon benefits and provides a platform for the future development of financial products or progammes that will drive increased private capital flows towards low carbon activity," says Mr Weise.

"We see shifts in this market, and our pipeline is healthy, so it’s exciting to have the confidence of our Shareholders to support our growth."

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